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Real Numbers - Wordless Wonder (2016)

Artist: Real Numbers

Author: Sarah

Date: 08/12/2026

Listen: Apple Music | Bandcamp | Spotify

As long-time readers already know (and are tired of me bringing up all the time), my route to getting into indiepop was through a couple sampler compilations I picked up, mostly focused on the indiepop of the 1980s and 1990s. Over my summer break that year, I managed to work my way up to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but that was seven whole years prior! But it led me to Slumberland Records, and the album Slumberland was getting ready to put out at that time was Wordless Wonder.

There's nothing fancy being done here, really. It's pretty standard jangle pop, racing along with a lovely bouncing bass helping to push things forward, with vocalist Eli Hansen just barely managing to make himself heard, and sounding like he's got marbles in his mouth. If I'm being honest with myself, in other circumstances this is the exact type of thing I'm often prone to dismiss! (Well, I'd love the bass playing under any circumstances, but aside from that...)

But look, I can't be objective here. This is the album that convinced me that all the indiepop stuff that I was getting into wasn't a total dead end! (Of course, no one I knew was into it still, but at least it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that someone in the future might!) I've heard this album more times than a good chunk of the albums I'd count among my all-time favorites, so honestly, who's to say it doesn't deserve to be counted among them too?