Some albums pack such a punch that after completing the last track, the listener feels like he has been run over by an AstroVan full of rock 'n' roll. Other albums are so tame the listener is practically asleep by the time the album finishes. Almost Here, the debut album by Chicago five-piece The Academy Is..., falls exactly in the middle of these two musical extremes.
Almost Here combines the alternately hard and soft musical sound of bands like Jamison Parker with the vocal stylings of The Stereo, another band on the Fueled By Ramen label. The album provides the listener with ten catchy numbers, all head boppers, to be sure, but sometimes does not give the listener the strong distortion-laden climaxes many fans of the genre have come to expect from their bands.
Oftentimes during the album, the music will clearly lead the listener to believe an explosive, anthemesque chorus will follow the initial verses but then will fail to deliver, utilizing an acoustic guitar behind distorted electrics, very much weakening any sense of intensity The Academy Is... was perhaps trying to achieve after two minutes of buildup. This is certainly not true of all of the album's tracks, as songs like \Almost Here"" explode, musically speaking, almost immediately.
One of the more unique elements of the album is the atypical method in which the drums are played. Where many modern power-pop bands almost exclusively follow the hard and fast, crash-symbol-heavy drumming standard, The Academy Is... mixes it up a bit, incorporating almost disco-like beats (think The Killers) in songs like ""Classifieds"" and ""The Phrase That Pays."" While these unusual percussion methods may contribute to the aforementioned lack of choral intensity, they do add creativity to the otherwise musically drab record.
Lyrically, Almost Here is nothing groundbreaking. The Academy Is... generally sticks to the ""songs about girls and introspection"" punk rock standby, and while the band seems to take pains to avoid overdone rhymes (""take my hand"" and ""understand,"" etc.), they certainly do not do anything too exciting.
Overall, the album is simply OK. The Academy Is... definitely gives its listeners more than the average power-pop combo, but leaves them wanting the band to take their music to the next level. The album is like a suspense film whose ending leaves viewers saying to themselves, ""That's the secret? So what?"" Plenty of buildup, but no satisfying climax.
The band shows a lot of potential for growth, but they will need one or two more albums to hone their chops. ""Almost Here"" is a step in the right direction, but, as the title might suggest, The Academy Is... has a way to go before becoming great.
