The Year Of: The Academic

Next up in our “TheYearOf” list, comes Irish four piece, The Academic, the soon to be claim to fame for their hometown of Mullingar.

If you witnessed the extremely inventive Facebook Live version of their hit single, Bear Claws, then you already know that The Academic are far from your regular indie band. Now being compared to OK GO, on their YouTube account, ignoring this comparison is essential to truly loving The Academic.

Made up of Craig Fitzgerald (Lead vocals + Guitar), Matt Murtagh (Guitar) ,Stephen Murtagh (Bass) and Dean Gavin (Drums), The Academic’s charming style of contemporary indie rock alongside an influx of early 2000’s indie pop has made their music almost impossible for radio stations to stop repeating. Notably, Bear Claws didn’t place in our top100 songs of 2017, which is purely a mistake on my part as the tracks features on my most popular Spotify tracks of the year (so sorry about that guys).

Coming before Bear Claws, Mixtape 2003, featured on Velvet as being a truly belting, thunderous indie rock track, came ladened with rapid firing guitar riffs for an overly joyous occasion of modern nostalgia, as the Irish rockers continued their golden form from their earliest release of Different, from all the way back in early 2015.

Their most recent releases, Why Can’t We Be Friends? and Permanent Vacation, both taken from their upcoming LP, Tales From The Backseat, showcase a continuation of golden indie music that utilises influences while still remaining current and exciting, as The Academic look set to reign in a stellar year for guitar music.

Their debut LP, Tales From The Backseat, comes out January 12th, alongside a North American tour in February and a European/ UK tour in April. The Academic are also currently running a special, Christmas competition, with a chance to receive the first physical copy of Tales From The Backseat signed, as well as a pair of tickets for their Iveagh Gardens show in Dublin on July 20th. Click HERE to go to the competition and enter for a chance to win!