Real Friends – The Home Inside My Head
Words by Zoe Marquedant
As impressive as Real Friends’ first studio album Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Changing was, its strength was its potential. The record proved that Real Friends were clearly real artists, but they were yet to refine their art. The Home Inside My Head is evidence that the band has done just that. They have not only met the success of their previous release, but also surpassed it. A sophomore slump this is not.
For this new record, vocalist Dan Lambton perfectly achieves that sort of lisp-y, slightly nasal-y inflection that all good pop punk singers before him made into a science. With tracks like “Mess” and “Basement Stairs,” he begins to earn his place amongst them. Some may even say a comparison could be made to a young Kenny Vasoli and the early work of The Starting Line.
Real Friends slings a similar brand of self-aware, lyric-driven songs as the Philly-based favorites The Wonder Years. Really, The Home Inside My Head is made up of songs we’ve heard before. “Mokena” is another slow song named after a home town; it’s another reflection on driving home. It’s success is in the details. It’s infused with enough of the lyricists own experience to make it feel renewed. The listener is really grounded in that moment; they’re sitting shotgun on that drive. Listening to “Mokena,” you can feel the cold and almost catch the smell of smoke. Musically, the song has a sort of predictable slow, plodding pace that leads up to the all but inevitable build-up and break. It’s formulaic, but well executed.
The same could be said about the other tracks. They’re familiar, but the specifics of their subjects and content are new enough to make them different. Like previous Real Friends releases, this one is filled with “I” statements, emotion and break-ups. It’s just the kind of stuff that the genre wants and odds are what the fanbase ordered. Whether the listener is grappling with similar changes as Real Friends or simply wants something catchy to shout along with, The Home Inside My Head has something for everyone. “Stay In One Place” is a high-energy album opener full of layered vocals and bass that contains one of the record’s catchiest choruses. “Empty Picture Frames,” from which the album takes its name, is similarly addictive and has Lambton really testing his abilities. He stretches the vowels of his “hoOome”s and “nOo”s without sounding breathless or beyond his depth. If he can keep that up on the road, this song will be perfect live. It’ll be the one we’ll want on every Real Friends setlist from now on.
Lyrically, it should also be noted that the band has moved off of the bony knee-heavy lyrics that caught critics attention last time. “Mokena” includes some stumbling, but overall there are far fewer knees being fallen upon. There is one formal mention (“I’m trying to feel weak in my knees again”) in “Well, I’m Sorry,” but the song makes up for it. The determination behind each “I’m over it” accompanied by the crash of the cymbals leaves Real Friends sounding far less defeated than in their last release. Overall, in The Home Inside My Head, the guitars are heavier, the lyrics are clearer and the riffs more clever, but thankfully Real Friends hasn’t gone too far off from where we last heard from them. They’re still the sad boys from Illinois whose songs we fell in love with.
Overall Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Recommended Tracks: “Stay In One Place” & “Empty Picture Frames”
