Real Numbers

Hailing from Minneapolis, Real Numbers formed toward the end of the 2000s and initially operated as a 1977-style punk outfit that merged the Undertones’ melodic approach with the Buzzcocks’ terse vocal style. Guitarist and singer Eli Hansen, bassist John Eggerman, and drummer James Blackfield issued the “Radio World” single in 2008 and followed it with a four-song EP the next year, after which the group abruptly shifted direction. The revised sound drew from the loose guitar pop of C-86 acts such as McCarthy and Jasmine Minks, the mod-flavored action pop of Television Personalities, and three decades of subsequent bands that had absorbed those same influences. Their debut recording in this vein arrived as an eight-song self-titled EP on local imprint Three Dimensional Records in 2010. The following year the trio appeared on Floridas Dying Records with the “Tear It in Two” single. Following a hiatus they resurfaced in 2013 with the 12-inch EP Only Two Can Play, still displaying the same scrappy, C-86-centric character. That return proved brief; nearly two years passed before they surfaced again on Forged Artifacts’ December 2014 cassette compilation Greatest of All: Time #1 and on their own “Up and About” single, issued early in 2015 as part of the No Problems Records singles club. Later in 2015 guitarist Ian Nygaard, previously of Howler, joined the lineup, and the expanded quartet entered the studio with producer Matt Castore to record their first full-length, Wordless Wonder. The sessions received unusual attention, including doubled rhythm tracks and added guitar solos. Slumberland, the storied American indie-pop label, acquired the rights and issued Wordless Wonder in October 2016.