Real Estate - Days

Recorded with Kevin McMahon in upstate New York across the late winter and spring of 2011, Days is the confident second album from New Jersey’s Real Estate. A graceful evolution from their acclaimed debut, it finds the band tightening their songwriting into richly melodic, melancholic pop.

The album comprises nine new tracks alongside a revisited version of the standalone single “Out of Tune,” and sees the group refine their breezy sketches into gently layered, cyclical compositions. Martin Courtney’s songwriting remains central, with several tracks, including the standout “It’s Real,” written first on bass to shape their core melodies differently.

Subtle textures — piano, slide guitar, soft synths — drift around Bleeker’s steady, Lesh-inspired bass, with arrangements that feel lived-in and restrained. Days is both reflective and quietly ambitious, a natural step forward from a close-knit songwriting collective steadily building something enduring.