Beloved Rock Group Returns After 18 Years With Brand New Album

Chicago rock band The Academy Is... is returning after an eighteen-year hiatus with their brand new album, Almost There.

The album will be released on March 27, but the band has given listeners a welcome taste of their new, matured sound with the single "L Train."

The new album's title pays homage to the band's debut record, Almost Here, which was released in 2005 and features hits such as "Skeptics and True Believers", "The Phrase That Pays", and "Slow Down", which has over 10 million streams on Spotify.

The band's new album offers a much more modern, down-to-earth sound, with mature, reflective lyrics that discuss family, the dreams of youth, and reconnecting with each other after so many years.

"William [Beckett] and I made the first record at nineteen and walked away at twenty-eight,” the band's co-founder Mike Carden reveleaed in a press release. “Almost There is really about everything that’s happened in the space between.”

Following their hugely successful debut, The Academy Is... released two more albums in the early 2000s: "Santi" and "Fast Times at Barrington High". The group officially split in 2011, but have since come together on several occasions to perform one-off concerts and make various festival appearances.

The idea for Almost There arose when The Academy Is... reunited in 2023 to perform at the When We Were Young festival in Las Vegas. "Almost Here was about leaving home,” Beckett reflects. “This album is about finding your way back. It’s the other end of the spectrum.”

The band officially announced Almost There in March 2026, with the lead single "2005" coming shortly afterwards. The song discusses all the ways the band members' lives have changed since their 2005 breakthrough, with all the driving guitars and heavy drums that rock fans will remember.

Almost There will be available to stream and purchase on March 27. The project's final single, "L Train", is out now.