Record review: Real Estate “Days”
It’s rare that something so small and specific can conjure up a whole world and fully formed set of emotions. Real Estate are able to turn a precise guitar tone into a story of growing up in the suburbs looking out into the world, the carefree summer giving way to the grayer days of autumn, growing up and feeling like there is a great pressure to fit into the social constructs of a grown up world.
Days is Real Estate’s follow-up to their self-titled debut. And it really feels just like that: a follow-up. This is a band continuing on their designed track and honing in on exactly what they are trying to do. I mean this in a good way. How often do bands fall victim to the sophomore slump and fly off the rails of the track that made them so appealing in the first place. But in this case we get to see a band grow in a slow, but well-thought way. Whereas on Real Estate the band had long instrumental spaces (although those do find a home here as well) or lyrics (awesome as they are) as “Budweiser, Sprite, do you feel alright?” in “Suburban Beverage,” here on Days there are things like detailed accounts of wistful car rides on “Green Aisles,” and loving affirmations like on “It’s Real.” And what is he saying on “Municipality” that he follows up with “…that’s not anything like my reality.”
“Out of Tune” has been my most consistent jam here. That one that had the perfect meld of melody, personality and that rad Real Estate reverb I brought up before.
I think what makes Days stand out is that it is not so much a general love letter to/lamentation of the suburbs, but a specific call out. It feels like these dudes are reaching into a more personal arena of their brains and pulling out certain memories and daily truths. It lays most obviously in songs like “Wonder Years” and “Younger Than Yesterday.” I’m really not sure why these sentiments don’t come off as cheesy when delivered here. It’s almost too easy to write them off for that, though. If you want to say that writing about universally relatable experiences is cheesy then you and I probably don’t have much to talk about.
