As of now, As It Is’ best album is still 2017’s okay.. It’s one that’s only appreciated in value more and more since release, where the combination of insular doomsaying and thick-and-fast hooks unlocked such compelling emo potential in As It Is. Especially compared to the albums that followed and their darker, harder-edged outlooks, okay. continues to capture what As It Is do best.
Thus, it’s no great shock that this comeback album looks to tap back into that. It’s likely the closest that As It Is could come to asserting real stability once again, coming from a period of bleeding core members that eventually culminated in their hiatus in 2022. Since returning in 2024, though, the air around them has felt more refreshed. Perhaps it’s the result of a nice break; perhaps it’s because they wound up celebrating Never Happy, Ever After’s 10th anniversary, ultimately thrusting them back into the momentum of their glory days. Not to say that As It Is are wholly, inextricably nostalgia-bound these days, but the pop-punk and emo they were built upon are a better fit for them.
Or are they? Going through As It Is’ self-titled album, you realise that they’re trying to do a lot. At a base level, the goal is to recapture the spark of okay., in both sonic terms and an overview of fear for what the world is becoming that wreaks mental havoc at every turn. At the same time, though, it’s also pitched in territory of camaraderie and how even the worst can be worked through, where the disparity in grip is blatant. Oh, and also, there are the tweaks and updates to the sound that, on the release that’s ostensibly build to define them as a band, prove more hit-or-miss than they’d like. That’s a fitting summary for the album as a whole, in fact.
It’s worth saying how, of those points made, they aren’t a hindrance to As It Is in isolation. The slick sound suits them rather well, actually, particularly with added saxophone whenever Justin Klunk pops in. I’m So Alive! achieves the best of the After Laughter Effect for it—i.e. an utter wallow contrasted by its jubilant, technicolour instrumental—and Live, Laugh, Love, Los Angeles fittingly sounds like if Bruce Springsteen cut his teeth at Facedown club nights.
As for the brighter, more communal outlook that breaks its way through, there are standout examples of that, too. Marilyn is a pretty sweet cut, where the hope and brighter demeanour of one elderly woman helps to cut through the narrator’s pessimism. Lose Your Way & Find Yourself, as well, positions itself outside of those dark clouds, and embraces how much value there is in asking for help and not struggling through hardships. With its shuffling acoustic guitar and gleaming synth accents, it’s undoubtedly saccharine, but bold enough in presentation to earn it. (There’s also a subtextual appeal to men with how ‘bravery’ is attributed to perhaps-reticent emotional openness and honesty, which is really appreciated.)
That’s not true of everything here, though. If okay. is the blueprint, then As It Is’ self-titled can feel unwilling to commit about what worked there. There was a desperation across the board that made it compelling, something which, here, is barely on the radar. The ending run especially is such a victim of this as fluffy, edgeless alt-pop production leans deep into sentimentality. What If It All Works Out is the real dud here, not just for being a feel-good ending with no weight or bite, but for how sudden the emotional resolution of it all is. Songs like Lose Your Way & Find Yourself and Last At The Party are built on virtues for building a better life, but there’s a tenacity baked in from obstacles overcome. Thus, a closer that boils down any remaining nerve into “it’ll be fine in the end” (set to music fitting of a schmaltzy Disney ballad, no less) isn’t a satisfying bow on the whole thing.
In fact, it might be enough to shift perspective on the album in its entirety. This is already a thinner album than a lot of what As It Is used to produced, and the platitudes rising to the top doesn’t help. If anything, it makes the sporadic but specific details of Ruin My Life that much better, evocative of a great song like Austen and the lifelike weight it carries. As It Is’ self-titled might be catchy and genial in its sentiments, but it doesn’t last. Even Patty Walters’ voice seldom has the tang of his best work in a poppier space.
Overall, then…it’s just a bit of a mixed bag. It’s nice to have As It Is back and actively seeking to reclaim their best side, but spirit alone doesn’t go nearly all the way. It’s not a total flop, either; there are enough good songs to count, and the broadest thematic strokes are something that As It Is can work with. Explore even a bit deeper, though, and the myriad shortcomings reveal themselves with great haste. It’s definitely trying to do too many things at once, but without even the bloat that tends to result from that. By the end of it, As It Is are mostly listless, and that’s disappointing to see from a band capable of so much more, in what’s essentially this exact mould. Ironic how an album chasing the highs of okay. is more just ‘okay’ than that one ever was.
For fans of: State Champs, Grayscale, With Confidence
‘As It Is’ by As It Is is released on 17th July on FLG Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
