Fast Times A Little Slow, But Almost There
At the end of August, The Academy Is… released their latest effort, Fast Times at Barrington High. Unfortunately, it’s the result of a series of bad decisions on the band’s part.
The band’s two other albums, Almost Here and Santi, were both high-quality, polished albums that showcased lead singer William Beckett’s unique voice and song-writing abilities. Almost Here was full of quirky rhythms, expert turns of phrase, and interesting music. Santi showed a great deal of maturity as The Academy Is… branched out and experimented with new song structures and sounds.
Fast Times, on the other hand, contains none of the things that previously brought attention and success to the band. William Beckett joined forces with the album’s producer to co-write over half of the album’s lyrics instead of keeping his position as the band’s sole lyricist.
The resulting songs come across as bland, poorly thought out, and unoriginal.
At 23, Beckett singing about sleeping through classes and failing tests seems a little inappropriate. The album seems like a huge step backwards for the band and would have seemed more likely to be an embarrassing first album from when they were actually in high school.
The songs are almost indistinguishable from each other, every one using the same basic structure and repetitive power-pop chords. Every chorus sounds like it was written with the sole intention of gaining airplay instead of delivering a masterful hook for the track.
Beckett’s solo writing salvages some of the later songs on the album, but only because they become reminiscent of his earlier work. The recycled melodies and music featured in the rest of Fast Times, however, are only barely enjoyable because they’ve been heard before in better songs.
Ultimately, Fast Times at Barrington High comes across as a disposable summer listen – something to blend in on the radio while no one is paying attention.
2 / 5