Albums of 2011 : Number 1 - Real Estate, 'Days'

So, we reach the top of the tree (so to speak) and there we find New Jersey's Real Estate and their sophomore album Days. As the weeks closed in on the end of the year and the thought of composing this list, I found myself listening to this album more and more, two to three times a day at one point, and in the end it just pushed Korallreven to number two. I could have copped out and had a joint number one, but what would have been the point of that? Days just snuck into my life almost unnoticed until it became a part of my daily routine; one of the most lovely and affecting - and utterly simple - records I've heard in many years.

Made up of singer/guitarist Martin Courtney, guitarist Matthew Mondanile and bassist Alex Bleeker, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2009, and followed up with this one - a record of simple nostalgia, yearning and nascent romance. Beautiful guitar lines grace Days from start to finish, like 'Major Leagues'-era Pavement, or the early jangle of R.E.M.

It's the simplicity of lines like "floating on an inner tube in the sun" from gentle album opener 'Easy' that capture the essence of this record. Each song seems like a variation on the same theme, and so Days hangs together wonderfully, from 'Green Aisles'. 'It's Easy', 'Out of Tune' and 'Wonder Years' (yes, such a track name was inevitable). Given the band are childhood friends, it's hardly a surprise they share the same warm and fuzzy memories.

It's a truly glorious record, and on 'Green Aisles', one of the finest songs of 2011, we find the perfect encapsulation of the whole theme of Days:

"the phone lines, the street lights, led me to you/

and if you just sit tight I'll be there soon/

All those wasted miles/

All those endless drives/

Through green aisles/

Our careless lifestyle, it was not so unwise"

Real Estate - Green Aisles by DominoRecordCo

It's the album that's meant most to me in 2011, the one that I've enjoyed the most, and the one I catch myself singing songs from on a regular basis. If that's not reason enough, then I don't know what it. Days is a wonderful, charming guitar record, one that reaffirms that guitar music isn't quite dead yet, and shows that Real Estate are a very, very talented bunch of lads. Life-affirming music at its best.