Early October this year was an Indian
Summer, as it were, in my part of Ohio. This means that in the
morning it was quite brisk and you needed a medium-thickness jacket;
when you got off work, the weather was in the 70s and the sunshine,
so very good feeling, seemed like Mother Nature was winking at you.
It was one of those week or so periods of time where I sat in an old
leather chair by my open window, smoking clove cigars, slowly getting
drunk on cheap sangria, and beginning to read something I instantly
knew I was going to adore (in this case, The Sandman).
The cherry on top of this perfect weather and week or so
kind-of-a-bender was first hearing an album like Days
and falling in love with a band like Real Estate.
Looking
back at my review of the band's self-titled debut, I summed up my
feelings thusly: “Real
Estate is
the sort of enjoyable, low stakes indie album with a refreshing lack
of pretense or artifice that will never win awards or change the
world. Impossible to hate, difficult to fully love, Real
Estate is
a good little album, endlessly playable but only rarely remarkable.”
On first listen, this also summarized my feelings toward the band's
new record, Days.
I was ready to write my four star review and say the band were even
closer to making their masterpiece. “Maybe next time, fellas,” I
thought, “now let's go see how the new album by The Field turned
out...” However, something funny happened on a recent warm October
night: I fell in love with Real Estate.
In
the review quoted above, I noted a similarity between Real Estate and
The Sea and Cake. This feels more pronounced on Days
because the band are drifting further from their
psychedelic/surf-rock leaning debut into straight up groove-rock
built around the bright, shimmering interplay of Real Estate's
guitarists. To put it another way, Real Estate's debut sounds best in
Spring and Summer; Days
will still sound groovy, mellow, and amazing when Fall finally
settles in, and on through Winter. Indeed, Real Estate are more or
less turning out to be the heir apparent to The Sea and Cake, minus
some of the jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythmic influences of that veteran
Chicago band but adding a hypnotic interplay between the guitarists.
It's like Television if Television had had two amazing rhythm
guitarists instead of two amazing lead guitarists.
As
Days
is the kind of record which starts pretty good and gets better as it
goes, you can bet it also reaches its natural peak with the elongated
ending of 'All The Same', hinting at a jammier side of the band than
is apparent on their albums or, judging by a live bootleg from 2010 I
recently heard, their concerts. One of the album's best songs,
'Wonder Years', is a jangle-pop gem possessing a title which nods to
the somehow-80s-evoking scene the band has sometimes been lumped in
with. If Real Estate haven't exactly won the attention and sales of
better known somehow-80s-evoking acts like Washed Out, Best Coast, or
Kurt Vile, Days
shows that they have still outstripped them all in terms of nailing
down a unique and (seemingly) definitive sound. Call it “coming
into their own.” Call it “producing their first great record”
or whatever else. No matter the label, it's still the sound of a band
realizing their potential.
Days
is such a confident and endlessly enjoyable record that one hopes the
band don't stray too far from it for awhile. At first, it may come
off as lightweight and samey-sounding until, on further spins,
something suddenly clicks and you find yourself listening to it over
and over for a week straight. These are songs which start off “pretty
good” and soon bloom into addictive little tunes you can't get
enough of. “Lightweight” it may be...but so are summer shandies
and featherweight boxers. But I digress. Days
is one of the year's most unassuming and greatest successes. Highly
recommended.
5 Poorly Drawn Stars Out Of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment