BROOKLYN — Former Real Estate guitarist Matt Mondanile revealed in an interview with Pitchfork writer Ian Cohen early Monday morning that he hadn’t actually left the indie rock band to work on his solo project, but because the band “wasn’t chill enough.”

“People are saying I left Real Estate to work on my solo stuff, which just isn’t true,” says Mondanile. “A lot of fans don’t know this but Ducktails is just Real Estate songs played backwards anyway, only chiller.”

Martin Courtney, the band’s vocalist, says he was shocked by his childhood friend’s departure: “All I know is I went into the studio one day and all the hacky sacks and Capri Suns were gone.”

Sources close to the friends say this rift in the band came as no surprise, and that tension had been growing among the band mates since Courtney recorded over Mondanile’s VHS tape of Weekend at Bernie’s.