The Irish indie-rock band’s follow-up, recorded at Hellfire Studios in Dublin with producer Pete Robertson, follows new single ‘Keeping Up Appearances’.
The Academic have announced their third album, I’m Not Crying, You Are, out Friday January 22nd 2027. It follows recent single ‘Keeping Up Appearances’, which marked the start of a new chapter for the band and a first taste of a record that expands their songwriting ambitions while keeping the energy and immediacy they’re known for.
The album was recorded in Dublin at Hellfire Studios with producer Pete Robertson, whose credits include The Vaccines, Beabadoobee and Clairo. It’s described as a widescreen, deeply melodic record, built around big melodies and sharp emotional detail, with the band sounding more assured and more emotionally open than before.
Frontman Craig Fitzgerald says the band wanted to get closer to the kind of albums that made them fall in love with music in the first place.
“There’s a real love of melody and arrangement in it, and I think you can hear some of that Beatles instinct for taking a song somewhere unexpected. We were also listening to a lot of Dylan and Lou Reed while making this record and were inspired by the honest storytelling and how they both could look at everyday life without dressing it up or trying to make it more sentimental than it needed to be. But we never wanted to make a record that sounded like a collection of our influences. Those artists were part of the language we were speaking while we were making it, but the songs are very much ours. I think there’s something quite raw and honest about this album, and we’ve let the imperfections stay in there. That feels like a big part of who we are as a band now.”
I’m Not Crying, You Are has artwork by Christian Tierney and is available to pre-order now at theacademic.net.
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
