Real Numbers - Was It Always This Way (2026)
Artist: Sarah
Author: Real Numbers
Date: 08/15/2026
Listen: Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify
The title of this one is actually pretty appropriate, because it in fact wasn't always this way. In the near-decade(!) since their last album, Wordless Wonder, the entire lineup aside from frontman Eli Hansen has turned over. On the other hand, the sound of Was It Always This Way isn't that far removed from their previous work.
For starters, Was It Always This Way comes off as their most confident work to date; where Eli's voice once sounded like it was coming to you from the other end of a long hallway, now he's up front and center as a singer. The new band turns in better performances overall too; while I miss the bouncing basslines of Wordless Wonder a lot, they've reduced their over-reliance on lead guitar lines that echo the bass in favor of a more atmospheric approach to jangle pop. Overall, the effect leads to an album that does the best job I've ever heard of matching the feel of listening to an early-90s Sarah Records album.
Unfortunately, that facility with the music of their predecessors also ends up being Real Numbers' fatal flaw. While Wordless Wonder occasionally skirted the line of falling into Television Personalities pastiche, Was It Always This Way swings all the way into overt imitation, with the stretch of songs from "Darling" through "Twist the Blade" directly taking elements from "All of a Tremble", "The Camera Loves Me", and "Letting Go", respectively. Even worse, the layer of haze over all the songs, although it's integral to getting that Sarah Records sound just right, totally blunts the sound of the album, in much the same way as the Umbrellas' debut.
As someone for whom Wordless Wonder was genuinely a minor revelation when I first heard it, I really wanted the Real Numbers' comeback to be on that same level. Unfortunately, although the band seems to have pretty solid chemistry, Was It Always This Way doesn't bring anything new to the table. On "Never Never Again", Eli admonishes the listener that "the past can't be repeated"; if the Real Numbers want to truly harness the energy around the current indiepop revival, they'd be well advised to take their own advice.