Real Friends, a fast growing pop punk group from Illinois, have recently released their first full length album, titled Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing.
After six EP’s, the last one being Put Yourself Back Together in 2013, the band has steadily gained a fan base that has been head-over-heels for this new band who represents the core of the pop punk scene. The band takes influence from artists such as Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, The Starting Line, Saves the Day, and Taking Back Sunday.
Although some trails of similar themes can be heard throughout the record, Maybe This Place Is… has a completely different approach to the genre, laying out intricate feelings, dealing with occurrences which one might not think has significance. For example, “It's worth those nights where I'm scared to walk to my basement, these four walls, feel like they're caving in,” they sing in "Cover You Up." Listeners are led to a location, and their emotions begin to parallel that of the rise and fall of the music, and its intensity.
Maybe This Place Is... combines interests and themes that torture the broken youth of today, including struggles of a moving on and feeling alone or trapped by one’s hometown.
Kyle Fasel, the bassist of the band is credited with being the lyrical genius who writes tear-jerking, powerful lines which continue to explain part of why Real Friends quickly rose to fame. Issues also deal with growing up, broken love, and the struggles of being a young adult in a world that seems endlessly cruel to one’s needs.
Dan Lambton, the singer, meets the edge of his vocal limits with his screaming, which is surprisingly pleasant and complimentary to the progression of the track list.
Instruments are fast paced and uplifting in a way that present the urgent, raw feel of the music, and the intention to intensely communicate passions and experiences with listeners.
The band has successfully produced an album that is genuine, undeniably honest, and refuses to glorify distasteful feelings, which is also a reason why fans have been enjoying their release. Pop punk is a genre concerned with the brutal truth of things, and refusing to sell-out based on what the popular crowd is listening to, which is exactly what Real Friends has achieved.
The last song on the album, “…And We’re Just Changing,” consists of the lyrics “I still love you mom and dad, but I feel more at home when I'm away from here.” This reveals an attachment to one’s origins, but refusing to feel trapped by it, and venturing out to gain greater happiness. However, the past experience may have been for the band, it definitely shows that they have grown greatly through touring and traveling, away from their constricting hometown.
Overall, the songs on the album encapsulate a time-period through which the band questions the place in life they are stuck in. Through the progression of the record, it is evident that the members have come to terms with their experiences, however negative, and now accept the place in life they are currently at.
The album can be purchased on Amazon.