Album Review: Real Friends - Composure

Angsty pop-punkers Real Friends are back with their third album, providing ten new tracks to aggressively sing along to. Composure is an exciting and well produced pop-punk record, but there's part of us that wanted something more.

From The Outside is a worthy lead single, summing up the themes of Composure to a tee - pretending you're ok when you're breaking down on the inside. In Hear What You Want, vocalist Dan Lambton sings of lingering attachment and the curiosities of disappearing, you can hear the fire not just through Lambton but also in the fierceness of the band's percussion and strings. With sounds that could be likened to a mix of Knuckle Puck crossed between early Relient K, Composure delivers another song sticking to that poignant theme of smiling on the outside. Get By is perhaps the catchiest on the album, with swift but punchy lines like "You'll get by, while I get better".

The cathartic release of such candid emotions throughout the album are prevalent and inspiring. What is missing, however, are some slower paced songs to break the record up a bit. Lyrically Composure can be pretty brutal, a few stripped-back tunes would have made this record goosebump worthy. Or, maybe we're just suckers for sadness.