Almost Here by The Academy Is... A REVIEW

May 13, 2026

Unless you've ever been a scene devotee or a Fueled by Ramen scholar, The Academy Is.. not a name you are likely to have heard. Despite having been well loved and having opened for one of your favorite artists back in the heyday, The Academy Is... (TAI, for simplicity) is one of those bands that had a strangely shiny but brief career. They simply fizzled out and vanished before ever making it as big as some of their contemporaries and labelmates did, no doubt leaving many wondering.

Personally, I only became acquainted with TAI through what I can best describe as cameos. Ever so often, when browsing old Warped Tour pictures of my favorite bands, I would come across a certain figure. Tall, handsome, waifish, and armed with a pair of very impressive and era-appropriate low rise jeans, William Beckett is hard to miss. Then, I realized that Beckett featured in a lot of songs that I already knew, with the most surprising one having been Set it Off's Wolf in Sheep Clothing, a song that goes back to my early teen years. It was only a matter of time before I became intrigued enough to seek out his band and his music, which is how I ended up absolutely hooked on TAI's debute album: Almost Here.

William Beckett's vocals are always full of a type of dulcet i feel his voice like a pair of eyes looking down on me knowingly, knowing perfectly well that neither of us are as we were and that we will never be able to be them again. It's melancholic, it's a bit angry, but it is over all longing. His voice is sweet and alluring, a voice that matches the personality Beckett usually put on for shows.