In every emo band's career, there comes a time for "growing up" — dealing with more serious subject matter and jettisoning pop punk for a broader sound. Fall Out Boy have gone that route, but their friends the Academy Is. . . are happy to stay young a little longer. On their third album, themed around the senior year of high school, frontman William Beckett captures the struggle of being 18: the feeling that these are "the best days of our lives," as he sings on "After the Last Midtown Show," but only because these days won't last. Producers S*A*M and Sluggo reflect that transitional feeling in the tunes, which straddle the Blink-182 styles of yesteryear and the arena polish of current Warped Tour bands. (Members of Jack's Mannequin and Cobra Starship make cameos.) And Beckett vividly renders what it's like to be a kid facing real-world issues, dealing with adult relationships ("Beware! Cougar!") and leaving home ("One More Weekend"). "Hit the highway/Pour some liquor out for this town," he shouts on "Paper Chase." It's a bittersweet farewell to everything he's come from, but armed with an eye for detail that his peers lack, he's ready for what's next.
(Posted: Sep 4, 2008)
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- About A Girl
- Summer Hair = Forever Young
- His Girl Friday
- The Test
- Rumored Nights
- Automatic Eyes
- Crowded Room
- Coppertone
- After The Last Midtown Show
- Beware! Cougar!
- Paper Chase
- One More Weekend
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