By Tom Adams February 2023
It would have been easy to be traditionalists; remain the same band they were five years ago and satisfy the swift demands of the music industry when it came to album two, but that was never really an option for The Academic. Since their debut album Tales From The Backseat in 2018, the Mullingar-quartet have taken their time with their sequel: Sitting Pretty. Five years after their first, the record will be the band’s first for Capitol Records and is a reflection of their growth since album one, with a coming-of-age narrative worthy of its grand return.
The Academic have long ridden the wave of success Tales From The Backseat deservedly brought them over the last few years with hits like ‘Bear Claws’ and ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?’ fastly becoming indie-club staples. Written during the band’s teenage years, the debut record felt extremely indie-centric and built a jaunty hook-based reputation for the band for being both incredibly catchy yet lyrically thematic in exploring adolescent themes of growing up in their county town of County Westmeath. But now the band are into their late twenties and their latest project Sitting Pretty is one built on reflection. Addressing the trials and tribulations of adulthood and showcasing their coherent progression since Tales From The Backseat, The Academic’s second studio album has been one worth waiting for.
Released February 10th, Sitting Pretty feels like natural progression for the band. For this record, they stuck by London and turned to producer and long-time friend Nick Hodgson, formerly of the Kaiser Chiefs for a helping hand and it shows. The album is a more concise version of the debut - both with more pensive songwriting but also addressing the complexity of life from a matured perspective. The trademark emotional variability of an album made by The Academic provides no surprises across all forty-three minutes of Sitting Pretty. The indie-rocking four piece waste no time demonstrating their new convincing rock product with the opening electric guitar riff kicking off the first track ‘Pushing Up Daisies’ as lead singer Craig Fitzgerald declares: “don’t wanna come up short, don’t make me question my vision” - a fitting response addressing The Academic’s fitful last few years leading up to the record.
Themes of broken relationships and the questioning of self-identification then become more prominent in the delicate ballads ‘Step My Way’ (a bittersweet love song acknowledging feelings of alienation and feeling incomplete when single) fused with ‘Homesick’ (one that openly admits the tortuous reality of the difficulties of a distant relationship) leaving listeners pondering the often self-destructive acceptance of a modern love affair to Craig’s tune… “It’s just the way your life is at the moment, it’s just the cards that you’ve been dealt”. Exactly halfway through Sitting Pretty, listeners are temporarily taken down the route of an anomaly within The Academic’s discography with ‘Heartbreaks’s Where It’s At’ - a song that debates the hapless actuality of rebuffed romance to a contrastingly upbeat funk of a 70s dance track makes it a welcomed switch to the album's more familiar indie-rocking sound.
It’s easy to assume Sitting Pretty is exclusively about growing up and the fluctuating relationships that come with growth. However it becomes more noticeable that perhaps the album’s core message is one of locating the light in life’s setbacks, finding assurance in moments where there’s a lack of direction, and feeling comfortable playing the support role of your own life. Although The Academic have largely kept to the trusted indie sound of their last record, this one feels far more complete, notably consistent enough to debunk any word of a hook-based reputation, and will rightfully keep them on the indie radar for some time.
Comments