Real Estate - Days

Real Estate are unofficially recognised as one of the bands responsible for spawning the much-discussed genre of Chillwave. Whether you consider it a legitimate style, or simply a piece of descriptive twaddle, there is no doubt that Real Estate’s sound cruised contentedly along on the sizable ripples created by earlier psychedelic efforts from acts like Panda Bear and Ariel Pink. The second Real Estate album ‘Days’ picks up pretty much where album number one left off.

In the past Real Estate have forged a kind of sonic formula; writing songs with a wide open structure. They leave plenty of space to weave evolving tunes throughout the framework, and the result is music that sounds effortless. ‘Days’ utilises the same dreamy sound - after all, why try to reinvent the wheel when it already does the job perfectly well?

‘It’s Real’ is a great song that it would be difficult to improve on. Rich vocals drench the whole thing like warm sunshine, and the guitar sounds improvised, and laidback, but still very considered. It also has some momentum, managing to carry the band’s hazy sound into faster tempos. Instrumental ‘Kinder Blumen’, and the melodic ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ are slowed-down guitar jams, and transport you straight to the sleepy suburbia of New Jersey, the band’s hometown. ‘Easy’ is another standout, and unlike many other tracks on ‘Days’ it hardly diverges from the main guitar riff. It is a song longing for less complicated times, and the musical simplicity echoes the lyrics. The whole album seems sentimental, rooted in an idealist’s world where dreams and hazy memories are superior to everyday drudgery.

‘Days’ continues in this fashion, and even when the drums gain a higher profile, it is the guitar that largely, but very modestly, occupies centre stage. This is not an album of rousing choruses that shout from the rooftops for attention, neither is this quick-fix songwriting. This is an album of subtleties, with a beautiful sense of spontaneity and understated musicality.