The Academy Is…
Almost There
I Surrender Records
7/10
This year, I am celebrating 21 years of leading Racket’s cadre of music lovers/”journalists”. The Academy Is… was mentioned in our very first interview (with Fall Out Boy) so we are basically life-long friends, right?
It turns out we have both grown in the last 21 years since they dropped their debut LP, Almost Here. Besides us both being married with children, we’re both better writers.
Not sure why I was worried that they would still be writing the standard emo cliché lamenting over relationships gone awry, but I am pleasantly surprised by the atmospheric vocals and instrumentation found throughout this comeback album.
William Beckett has evolved from emo laments written at the waning teenage years to the sounds of someone with decades more experience, but without losing any of the charm of his younger self and I am enjoying it.