Real Friends have undergone quite a change since the release of their album Composure in 2018.

Following the departure of the band’s lead vocalist and frontman Dan Lambton in February of 2020, the band have stayed relatively silent for the past year. Sharing the occasional post supporting social justice movements, and with each individual band member continually updating their own feeds, the band’s social media accounts remained empty and had fans questioning whether Lambton’s decision to leave meant that the band was over. And despite the band assuring us all that this was not the case, the subsequent year of no live music and social media radio silence had us thinking otherwise.

But then just over a week ago, remaining band members Eric Haines, Brian Blake, Kyle Fasel, and Dave Knox shared a photo on Instagram that hinted that the band would be reuniting soon- and sure enough the band not only continued on but announced the addition of Cody Muraro as the new lead vocalist.

All of which brings us to this morning, which has brought both the official announcement of Muraro’s joining and the release of two brand new singles.

Titled “Nervous Wreck” and “Storyteller,” the two new singles give fans a taste of the new Real Friends- one that sounds both familiar and yet entirely unlike the Real Friends of the past.

Instrumentally, Real Friends is still a pop punk band that has the same guitar style and percussion elements. If you remove the vocal track, each of these songs could easily fit in with the band’s past discography, allowing fans to slide right back into the days of Composure, and get drawn in by the music alone.

Then when you add Muraro’s vocals, the tracks become uncharted territory. With so much of Real Friend’s notoriety coming from the unique vocals Lambton provided, it feels odd to hear someone else serenading listeners. But that’s the beauty of this change- Muraro is a breath of fresh air. He is not what any of us expected yet fits in perfectly with the band’s history and desired sound.

Yes, he is not Dan Lambton, but he is not trying to be. And Real Friends are not trying to be a copy of what they were pre-2020. They are evolving and changing with the times, and these two tracks perfectly represent that.

You can stream both “Storyteller” and “Nervous Wreck” out now wherever you stream music. And be sure to catch Real Friends in all of their pop punk glory as they join State Champs on their upcoming fall Pure Noise Records tour. Tickets available Friday.