The ironic thing about The Academy Is.. is that they almost never existed. Lead singer William Beckett and Lead guitarist Mike Carden grew up as rivals. But one day both of their bands broke up, and they got together and realized how much they had in common, and The Academy Is… (well, technically they were just The Academy, they changed their name later) was born. After being signed to Fueled By Ramen (the same label that gave you Fall Out Boy) they created the masterpiece of an album Almost Here. This is an acoustic EP featuring three songs from Almost Here, two new songs, and one cover, and is only available via download from i-tunes.
The first track
Pour Yourself A Drink is a basement demo, and you can tell from the start. The mixing and sound in general isn’t very good, but if you’re willing to tolerate it then you’re in for a treat. With trademark TAI lyrics (meaning they’re kind of dark and sometimes make you think)
“the only thing worse for you than you is me”. It’s pretty good, but the next track
The Fever blows it away. The guitar mixes with the vox perfectly, talking about someone who lie’s a lot, and how the singer is done with it. The breakdown near the end showcases Will’s vocal ability, where he sings some high notes that sound perfect and don’t sound out of place at all.
The next two songs,
Phrase That Pays and
Working Class Hero are the weakest set of songs on the album. I can respect the guys trying to do something different with Phrase That Pays, but giving it a country tone wasn’t the way to go.
Working Class Hero is a John Lennon cover, and while it wasn’t my favorite, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it much more if I were a huge John Lennon fan.
The last two songs on the album rectify its flaws with the two best songs on the EP.
Down And Out was my favorite song off Almost Here, and I got excited when I heard they were going to do a piano rendition with the pianist from ThisIsMeSmiling (great band btw) The beginning is just the piano player messing around with the song, and giving it an almost carnival-esque feel (listen to the song to know what I mean) but then the song begins, and Will’s voice is almost enchanting, with some sort of echo effect on it. The only problem I have with the song is that during the breakdown, they changed up the piano part to make it stand out, but it loses all the momentum. The final song
Black Mamba is the best song on the album, ironic, because I found it the weakest song on Almost Here. The best part is the end, with the clapping along and the cheers in the background. It makes you smile and will have you singing along almost instantly.
This is overall a very good effort from The Academy Is… . If you have never heard of these guys then I strongly recommend you go and buy Almost Here, and if you like that, then you will love this as well
Final Score
3.5
Pros
-Same old Academy Is.. goodness
-New songs are great
Cons
-Sometimes try too hard to change songs
This is my first review, EVER, so be nice
(p.s. thansk alot to kripes/beyontheblueprint fr helping me not look like a foo)
