Real Estate: Days

On their sophomore full length release, Real Estate has joined my list of “Favorite New Jersey Bands” (along with Titus Andronicus and River City Extension) with their follow up to the successful self titled debut.

This album, Days, is the epitome of the word “follow-up.” They maintain the same sound on this album as before but improve where needed making the record a cleaner, crisper, more refined released. Their self titled debut was a collection of songs that had been recorded at different times and yet remained surprisingly cohesive in substance which showed much promise for future projects. Now that they recorded an album in a proper session we see that they certainly are able to create a sense of togetherness with the music.

The album itself does not try to do too much. The band clearly understands what they do best and have decided to stick to that formula, which pays off in bounds. The simply titled Days is the perfect name for this album. It reflects the simple nature of the record and, thematically speaking, hits the nail on the head. In the opening track, “Easy,” lead singer Martin Courtney sings of the daily routine being a musician in a small town, writing simple songs in the summer time. The name itself, “Easy” is a great opening track title as it describes the album fittingly, easy, simple, soft, just plain easy. All of their other songs follow much of the same pattern throughout the record. A basic, simple rhythm with simple and relatable lyrics such as in my favorite track “It’s Real” where Courtney says “I don’t know who’s behind the wheel, sometimes I feel like that I don’t know the deal.”

Much like their debut, Real Estate does not shy away from showing off who their influences are. Likenesses can be drawn between a wide range of diverse bands. From The Strokes to Wilco even comparable to the recent indie standout Kurt Vile, their sound is diverse yet incredibly simple and familiar. When listening to the record I found myself struggling to find a band that matches their sound because of its variety. At the same time I was kicking myself because of the simplicity and familiarity of the melodies and overall sound. Days is clearly not a “game-changer” or a “groundbreaker” by any means, but that is perfectly fine. The band knows what they sound like and are willing to stick with that for now. Hopefully they do not make the same mistake as some of those who came before them, i.e. The Strokes, who felt like they needed a drastic change in their sound to maintain relevancy. But for now we can sit and listen to the soothing sounds of Days and bask in its glorious simplicity.

8.8 out of 10

-Michi Oshima