CD Review: The Academy Is... "Santi"

Santi was supposed to be the big coming out party for Chicago-based The Academy Is… . Coming off its Fueled By Ramen debut, Almost Here, all the stars were in alignment. A big label (Atlantic), big producer (Butch Walker), big publicity (Rolling Stone's Top 10 Break-Out Bands) and singer William Beckett's big voice were all in place to secure a spot on the charts alongside fellow emo/punk/poppers that are so big these days.

Well, The Academy Is… has a big mess on their hands. Instead of pulling a page from Panic! and indulging its pop sensibilities, The Academy Is… decided to, dare we even say it, rock?

First "single" (good luck getting this burner on the radio) "We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands," brings the hot, hot, heat. It's opening hook is massive (but too dark for the airwaves), the verses shimmering and the whole package a formidable representation of the bands talent.

So where do they go from there? "Everything We Had" is the requisite ballad with the boring name, but it's swollen chorus and lines like "I'm not a gentlemen/I can be a prick," represent the best of the genre.

"Neighbors" is where the Butch Walker influence is clear. Two-thirds of the way through the music stops, a female voice comes in to back up the lines, "And I could/but I won't," and the strong guitar lines that take it from there scream, "You can find this song on Walker's latest solo album." But, Avril Lavigne notwithstanding, Walker actually kind of rocks, too.

In other places you've got the melodic and introspective "Seed," the straight-ahead balls-to-the-wall rocker "LAX to O'Hare" and the where-the-hell-did-this-come-from garage prog rock in "Bulls in Brooklyn."

What's lacking here is that big radio-ready kick, the easily digestible lyrics the teenage audience can latch onto, that marketable, T-shirt slogan. It's simply not present on Santi.

With that gone, all that's left is a rock band starting to come into its own and indulging its best influences.

It's either a great mess or just a big one.