'We're all in this s**t-show together' -- The Academic discuss embracing their 20s through song
Rebecca Fisher
The Academic have jumped back on the scene for 2023, releasing their brand new single "My Very Best" on Thursday ahead of their eagerly awaited sophomore album Sitting Pretty, out on February 10.
The latest track from the Mullingar hit makers centres around the idea of coming up short, and encapsulates the pain that surrounds that feeling of inadequacy.
Extra.ie caught up with the boys on release day to discuss embracing their mid 20s as well as the lessons learned between their debut and now.
The Academic have jumped back on the scene for 2023, releasing their brand new single "My Very Best" on Thursday ahead of their eagerly awaited sophomore album Sitting Pretty, out on February 10. Pic: Provided.
'At the time it was written, it was a very difficult couple of months, like every day waking up just not being able to see where you want to be,' frontman Craig Fitzgerald told of the new release. 'It's the big, emotional peak of what the album is trying to say, in a way. I think it's really interesting.'
The bands highly anticipated second album, Sitting Pretty, details the highs and lows of living through your 20s, with the boys ensuring each track is laden with authenticity.
'It's kind of a shared life experience of what it's like going from your late teenage years into your 20s, thinking that you're going to have everything sussed...it's nearly a "we're all in this s**t-show together" type of thing,' Stephen Murtagh added.
'At the time it was written, it was a very difficult couple of months, like every day waking up just not being able to see where you want to be,' frontman Craig Fitzgerald told of the new release. 'It's the big, emotional peak of what the album is trying to say, in a way. I think it's really interesting.' Pic: Provided.
Speaking on their latest release, Craig added; 'It's probably one of the most bare-bones tracks on the album, thematically and musically, it's just sort of very brutally honest.'
Between now and their debut album, Tales From The Backseat, the boys have grown both personally and through their work, with Craig admitting 'they're just an awful lot more pensive,' these days.
'It's definitely more expansive and thoughtful. I think there's certain areas on the first album, which we are very proud of because they are literally lines of our youth. But I think if they were randomly in the middle of some of these songs it'd be jarring.'
'It's kind of a shared life experience of what it's like going from your late teenage years into your 20s, thinking that you're going to have everything sussed...it's nearly a we're all in this s**t-show together type of thing,' Stephen Murtagh added. Pic: Provided.
'I feel like something like Different, off the first record, as like beautiful and pure as that is, it's such a product of us in our late teens to early 20s, that like brutal honesty, naïveté kind of thing,' Matthew Murtagh reflected.
The Academic have announced that they are set to return to Dublin's 3Olympia Theatre on Friday, March 10 2023, with tickets on sale from Friday 27 January at 10am.
Their new single My Very Best is available to stream on all platforms, with Sitting Pretty hitting shelves on February 10.
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