It may sound overtly romantic, but Martin Courtney with never know how much he means to me. IPod Nano shuffles to now, I’ve somehow managed to soundtrack my entire “young adult” life to the audio sand & shore of Real Estate. Maybe it’s the repetition, the cycling guitar lines or just the volume. Courtney’s music, band or solo, is loud enough to brighten a mood and low enough stay in the background. I’ve relied on his music. I still do. And in my opinion, that consistency makes Courtney a brilliant musician.

Standing in Brighton Music Hall this Valentine’s day, I recall what the Real Estate frontman told me over the phone a day before. He’s been starstruck in a similar way. “I met Yo La Tengo and obviously acted like such a fan, because that’s who they are for me. I can listen to them always,” said Courtney. Real Estate played a show with the group some night of Chanukkah some while back. In all honesty, I was too nervous to ask for specifics. “I asked them to play ‘Our Way to Fall.’ It was the first dance at my wedding.” Not only did Yo La Tengo agree to playing the song. Guitarist James McNew asked if Courtney would sing along. He did, and the rest is light-volumed indie history.

Obviously, this didn’t happen for me or any other listeners watching Courtney’s solo set. His opener EZTV did most of the collaboration, joining Courtney for Neil Young covers and smirks. Performing solo, Courtney’s songs were more clearly structured than in Real Estate’s past. The sound was the same in warm, stringy essence, but different in confidence. He said in our phone call, “I’m interested now in writing songs that sound timeless,” which shined through with each short track, on-record and onstage. Courtney was strong, his voice audible for once. He smiled a lot and joked more.

I stood and spent the night focusing for once on the music I had always layered overtop of my time: vacation car drives, laundry days and procrastination sessions as long as the attention span can swallow up. For once, I was listening to Courtney and doing nothing else, no walking, no talking, and no analyzing, just mindless appreciating.

I didn’t focus at this show, didn’t evaluate, and by our standards at Allston Pudding, didn’t really do my job. Readers like me, I’m sorry. There are times when facing a favorite musician is just pleasant and renders your opinion useless. This show was one of them.

That said, pictures are more effective than my words.