Rating: NNN
While most bands, especially young ones with a teenage following, attempt greater “maturity” with each new release, the Academy Is have stuck with the tried-and-true summer fun formula.
The tunes are peppy and driving, the performances and production polished to a fault, and the lyrics simultaneously celebratory and wistful. Released just over a year after the Chicago band’s last album, Fast Times has impressive immediacy. “Right here, the best days of our life!” sings a histrionic William Beckett in After The Last Midtown Show. Cliched, yes, but for this well-coiffed indie emo outfit, the sentiment rings true.
