The Academic break stateside with 'Tales From the Backseat,' out 2018

On Jan 12, The Academic – one of Ireland’s fastest-rising acts – will release their debut LP, entitled ‘Tales From the Backseat,’ via Downtown Records. The album caps a whirlwind stretch for the rural Irish four-piece, who less than two years ago had scarcely seen the outside of their home country. The group sat down with V Man to chat about the record and share infectious album highlight “Permanent Vacation,” read/listen here: https://vman.com/article/premiere-the-academic-take-permanent-vacation-new-single/
   
The Academic’s early music has already earned considerable critical praise, with The Irish Times declaring, “it’s time to jump on the bandwagon, these guys are going to be big.” The band also landed opening spots with Pixies, Noel Gallagher, Cage The Elephant and Twenty One Pilots, in addition to a supporting slot with The Strokes at London's Hyde Park. “Bear Claws,” the first single off ‘Tales From the Backseat,’ earned raves everywhere from The Independent to Salon to Uproxx, who say the group “shows an anthemic wisdom well beyond their years”. Watch the video for “Bear Claws”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXoBj5HZ1hU

The band also recently created a viral video for "Bear Claws," in which they discovered a way to 'hack' the natural time delay in Facebook's livestreams to create a visual and audio loop pedal. The video got 1.5 Million views in less than a week and was been picked up by outlets like Mashable and HLN TV’s Morning Express. Check that out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO9d-AJai8Q

Recorded in LA with producer Tim Pagnotta (Walk The Moon, Neon Trees), 'Tales From the Backseat' offers some of the The Academic's most accomplished songwriting yet. From the New Wave indebted riffs to somber slow-burners, the songs take aim at the turbulence of growing into your 20s - loss of innocence, wariness of adulthood, unease with and ultimate acceptance of the inevitability of growing up. Largely penned while the band was still in their teens, they draw inspiration from a vast catalog of influences: early Arctic Monkeys, American Football, sleek early Motown production + more.

The band – Craig Fitzgerald (lead vocals), Dean Gavin (drums), and brothers Matthew and Stephen Murtagh (guitar and bass) – wrap up their first-ever US tour with Judah & the Lion this week, following sold out stops in Washington D.C., Boston, Tulsa, Charleston + more. More dates to be announced soon.

 

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