Sitting Pretty The Academic

• 1 Pushing Up Daisies 03:22
• 2 Don't Take It Personally 03:39
• 3 What’s Wrong With Me 03:22
• 4 My Very Best 03:17
• 5 This Is Your Life 03:24
• 6 Homesick 03:35
• 7 Heartbreak’s Where It’s At 03:35
• 8 Do What You Want 03:25
• 9 Step My Way 03:20
• 10 Let Go Of My Heart 03:37
• 11 Right Where You Left Me 03:12
• 12 Rain 03:08
• 13 Buying Smokes 03:48
• Total Runtime 44:44

Info zu Sitting Pretty

Das Vereinigte Königreich bleibt ein gutes Pflaster für besondere Bands wie The Academic, die sich euphorisch ihrem Gitarrensound hingeben. Schon zu Schulzeiten Freunde geworden, bauten sie die ersten Proberaumerfahrungen nach und nach zu einer spannenden Karriere aus. Craig Fitzgerald, Dean Gavin und die Brüder Matthew und Stephen Murtagh kennen sich bereits seit Schultagen: 2013 fanden sie in der St Joseph’s Secondary School in Rochfortbridge zusammen. Bis sie dann aber alle zusammen unter dem Namen The Academic firmierten, dauerte es noch ein paar schlechte Bandnamen, wie Craig mal in einem Interview sagte:

„Auf unserem Weg haben wir eine Menge sehr schlechter Namen erwischt. Ursprünglich waren drei von uns in einer Band namens The Frescos. Als wir anfingen, nannten wir uns Maginot, nach einer obskuren Anspielung auf den Zweiten Weltkrieg – dann tauchten wir immer wieder bei Konzerten auf und wurden von den Veranstaltern ‚Magnet‘ genannt, also blieb das nicht hängen. Also nannten wir uns einfach The Academic und das schien in Ordnung zu sein.“

Ihr Debütalbum „Tales From The Backseat“ erschien 2018, seitdem legten sie aber immer wieder rotzig-melodische Indie-Rock- Singles wie „Not Your Summer“ und „Community Spirit“ (beide 2021) nach – oder aber EPs wie „Acting My Age“ (2020). Im Februar 2023 wird dann endlich ihr zweiter Longplayer erscheinen. „Sitting Pretty“ wird er heißen und die beiden Vorabsingles „Pushing Up Daisies“ sowie „Don’t Take It Personal“ schüren die Vorfreude kräftig. Hier ist alles enthalten, was man von UK-Gitarrenmusik hören möchte: ein Wiedererkennungswert in der Stimme, mutig voranpreschende Gitarren, große Melodien, jugendlich-weise Lyrics, die mit Kampfeslust gesungen werden.

The Academic

Produced by Nick Hodgson at Snap Studios in London

The Academic
With their self-released debut album, Tales From The Backseat, The Academic announced themselves with an unlikely bang. Buoyant guitar hooks and earworm melodies coalesced with Craig Fitzgerald’s lyrics about teenage romance and tribulations in rural Ireland to place the band firmly amongst many ones-to-watch lists.

Released in 2018, it hit number one in the Irish Albums Chart but had enough of a global reach that over the next few years, the band toured the UK, Europe and a good chunk of North America. “We wanted to play the fastest, have the biggest chorus,” explains Craig of the first era of The Academic, which saw the band driven by a competitive edge.

New album Sitting Pretty has “a more matured edge to it,” bassist Stephen Murtagh promises. “We're different people now but that's natural. You grow out of things.” Leaning into that, Stephen explains how the songs on Sitting Pretty are “reflections of where we are now and who we’ve become. We’re in our mid-20s and experiencing all the chaos that comes with that. No one really knows what they’re doing or where they’re going, but nobody is panicking because we’re all in it together.”

Sitting Pretty still packs an energetic punch though. With the band having not played a live show for almost two years due to COVID, by the time they went into the studio with former Kaiser Chief Nick Hodgson, their excitement was at an all-time high. “We were just buzzing to be in a room, playing loud music all together,” says Craig. That same excitement drove those early years of The Academic and that giddy joy can still be heard across their second album. There was an emphasis on live takes. “If the magic is there, the magic is there,” Craig smiles.

The band hopes Sitting Pretty “connects on a visceral level with people who are grappling with their sense of self-worth, their identity and not knowing where they belong in the world. It is a struggle to know where you fit or what’s around the corner and it feels like that’s only getting harder,” explains Stephen. “I think a good chunk of young people feel lost or confused. Hopefully there’s comfort to be found in knowing other people feel the same way.”

Having already conquered their homeland with their independently released debut effort, The Academic are back with the same hunger; now bolstered with the benefit of experience and a few more tools at their disposal. “It’s the idea that your music can take you further than you've ever been before,” Stephen says of their ambition, ‘that’s what lights a fire under me.’

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet