Real Estate - Days [Domino]

8.3

In the United States, autumn officially begins on September 22, thus signifying the end of summer. This is significant due to the fact that Real Estate’s second LP Days was released October, 17, 2011 which isn’t in the summer. Days is your sunny, glorious summer album. The breezy guitar lines, shoegaze overtones, and the murky vocals all point towards a clean and cut summer record to listen to while taking shoreline drives. Though the fact that Real Estate didn’t release Days in the summer signifies a sort of farewell to the summer’s trials and memories; Days is a superb record that blows their self-titled debut out of the water.

The surprisingly lengthy finale “All the Same” has this absolutely glowing vibe of a sunset on a great, memorable day; steadily slowing down and eventually reaching the very satisfying conclusion of calm. Days, in fact, spins like a day at the beach or something else equally enjoyable with first track “Easy” being the start of the day and glorious expectations of the day. “Dreams we saw with eyes of hope/Until that dream was done,” croons lead singer Martin Courtney with a hazy echo on “Easy” has such a hook to it, it’s virtually impossible to even think about disliking it.

By no means is Days an eerie record, but some of the beautiful chords the guitars bring together can create such dissonance. Although Days is an excellent, nostalgic album, there is still a lack of song writing ability to really enhance overall tenacity of the album. Each track follows a very, very simple song structure that you can get with any pop artist, but the material Real Estate crafts is good enough to exceed these disappointing elements. Teen Dream from Beach House early in 2010 had the same problem; really beautiful substance with really no groundbreaking structure. Naturally, pop music appeals to the majority of human ears, so the Real Estate is a very accessible and a pleasant listen. You can simply call Days a successful “indie” pop record.

Days is that album you listen to when you want to have a good day, you really can’t go wrong with the material Real Estate crafts to formulate a nostalgic, pop-oriented record. Hooks and hooks really make Days fly by with such a appealing nature; you can’t help but just smile as the piano enters in on the chorus of “Municipality” and the “oohhhs” of Real Estate band members on “It’s Real”, it’s all great listening. Who really cares if this is released in autumn? Days will be playing throughout the entirety of winter.