The Academic return today with the track “Kids (Don’t End Up Like Me)” and an accompanying video. In tandem with today’s release comes the announcement of the band’s new EP Community Spirit, which is slated to be released July 9 via Capitol Records. Listen to the single here. Watch the video here.
“Kids (Don’t End Up Like Me)” is the first taste of the upcoming EP, hinting at the new sonic direction the band is moving in. Streaming now, the song is a thumping return for a band absolutely straining at the leash to take their sky-scraping indie-pop anthems out on the road and into the ears of their ever-expanding fanbase.
Community Spirit was written, recorded and produced by the band throughout lockdown. The past 14 months put their touring plans on ice just as serious momentum started gaining outside of Ireland, but The Academic have dusted themselves down and are ready to go again.
Vocalist Craig Fitzgerald said, ““Kids (Don’t End Up Like Me)” is one of the first songs I remember writing back when I was a teenager. It was the first time that lyrics had come very easy to me. It’s written about the fear of not getting out of your hometown and amounting to anything. Thanks to the lockdown, I had plenty of time on my hands, but nothing to write about, so I started looking through all my old notebooks and found this song fully written. I had a gut feeling that it might come to life now with a few more years of living behind me since it was originally written.”
While Kaiser Chief’s Nick Hodgson produced last year’s Anything Could Happen EP, Craig himself swung behind the metaphorical glass to take control of production on the Community Spirit EP. “I’d spend a lot of time during lockdown working on my production chops, trying to get the most out of the little equipment I had. The band put their faith in me to take a stab at producing this. Whilst it’s definitely super DIY, it’s been a cool experience and helped us realize we can make music on our own,” he said.
It’s perhaps too early to suggest that a new band has a signature sound, but The Academic seem incapable of writing anything less than golden, infectious, guitar-fueled indie-pop. It’s bold, heart-thumping, cinematic disco music for indie kids, that instantly recalls some of the better guitar bands that lit up the early 2000s, but brings it sharply into focus with the energy of four young Irish lads bursting at the seams to introduce themselves properly to audiences across the globe. They’re already deemed hometown heroes, but as the new song suggests, while Mullinger and Ireland might have opened their arms to The Academic first, there are towns, cities, states and countries still eagerly awaiting that first embrace.
