New York – On Real Friends’ new album, their first full length, the intro/opening track “Maybe This Place Is The Same…” sets the tone. Primarily instrumental, with only a line or two of vocals, it introduces the themes of change and interpersonal relationships. The album isn’t simply about break-up or growing up. It makes those processes more universal and anyone, whether you’re sixteen or twenty-six, can find something reassuring in the band’s hyper-personal lyrics.
“Sixteen” is an example of how the album takes a situation and makes it applicable to any listener. The title is a dead giveaway. Before even hearing the track, you know that it will be beloved by most misfit highschoolers. Still there is something more universal to the reassurance that the song carries. Like hundreds of pop punk bands before them, Real Friends touch on teenage angst, but they take it a step further in Maybe This Place. The record has plenty of mentions of sleepless nights and desperation, but unlike other bands that attribute such conditions to being “just a kid”, Real Friends seem to argue that such melancholia affects everyone, whether they’re the lead singer of a band or simply a sixteen. “Spread Me All Over Illinois” continues with the same restlessness and introversion. It is arguably one of the best songs on the album.
The album’s lead single, “Loose Ends”, is perhaps the catchiest song on the album. The bright guitars juxtapose vocalist Dan Lambton’s gruff voice. The combination of pick slides and cymbals make for a pop punk perfect storm. It’s an excellent song for the summer and a decided strong point on the album. Another single, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, is similar to “Loose Ends”. The song has some of the best guitar parts in the entirety of Maybe This Place. Lyrically it seems somewhat oversimplified. The repetition of “thinking about somebody that doesn’t even think about me” towards the end of the song making for a haunting second half.
The short “Old Book” is an over-extended metaphor comparing the narrator to you guessed it- an old book. One of the track’s strengths is the vocal outro towards the end of the song where vocalist Lambton, sings, with heartbreaking honesty, in a voice just above a whisper. The following track “Summer” has some of the same sentiment, with a more success and more complex instrumentals.
Lambton breaks out his characteristic gravelly voice, that occupies the majority of the album, for the second half of the song. However, like in most of Maybe This Place, he comes across raspier than more seasoned vocalists. Instead Lambton sounds more like a heavy smoker with a bad sore throat. The record’s lead single “Loose Ends” is a more successful application. Lampton’s seeming hesitance to explore his vocal range creates a weak spot on the album. The album’s slower song “To: My Old Self” is a softer spot where the listener gets a rare listen to Lambton’s singing voice. Tracks like “Summer” prove that the two sides can be married together to create a diverse song that plays to the band’s strengths. As a group they have the ability to have both a harsher and softer sound, but too often in Maybe This Placethey swing to either extreme without finding a middle ground. This is somewhat typical of this newest class of pop punk band, so perhaps Real Friends are the first wave of a new sound.
Website: http://realfriendsband.com/
Zoe Marquedant
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