Real Estate – Days

For a genre teeming with pale, skinny, upper-middle-class dudes, its surprising that an indie group didn’t deliver The Suburbs much earlier. But while Arcade Fire drenched its Grammy award-winning semi-autobiographical album in weirdly bombastic/overdramatic metaphors (“the music divides us into tribes” from “Suburban War” was easily one of my favorite lines), Real Estate‰’s second full-length Days takes a far more muted and interesting approach to the subject matter, heavily emphasizing mood and feeling over style.

Unlike their self-titled debut, Days takes a more straightforward songwriting approach, with plenty of uptempo cuts and notes that ring with precision rather than hesitation. Shimmering guitars, reverb-infused hooks, and steady percussion are the perfect soundtrack to suburban life, as if written for sub-par car stereos or back-yard barbecues. Days yet again captures the subtle melancholy of summertime in the ‰“sprawl” with wistful lyrics, slowly spiraling riffs, and nostalgic production that feels like a polaroid or a roll of your parent‰’s Super-8 film or a grainy home-video tape.

And while singer Matt Mondanile never raises his voice beyond a careless drone, the content is anything but mundane. The band‰’s colloquial lyrics are simple yet potent and powerful, as the record laments loss of innocence, ambivalent and flawed young love, yearning for a lifestyle long gone.

To some, the album may be a pleasant, inoffensive one-time affair. But while these songs may seem unremarkable to the passive listener, the timeless melodies slowly creep into focus upon further inspection. Days’ careless suburban lifestyle is, appropriately, a sigh rather than a shout. And for anyone pale, skinny, upper-middle class dude who has spent countless lazy days aimlessly circling the mall or drifting down the coast, the album is a familiar reminder of the hazy teenaged love, boredom, and beauty that quietly slipped away.