Reunited Brighton pop-punks As It Is remember who they were on joyous, streamlined new opus
If you want to make yourself feel long in the tooth, reacquaint yourself with the fact As It Is have, albeit with several years split up, been around for 13 years. And, it turns out things got a little complicated along the way.
Despite being in a lengthy union with pop-punk, they’ve been known to stray into emo pageantry and a relatively harder brand of rock. These dalliances have resulted in florid and ambitious works such as 2017’s okay. and 2018’s The Great Depression), as well as the experimentalism that came with becoming a trio after the departure of guitarist Ben Langford-Biss (2022’s I Went To Hell And Back). Then they were gone. Then they came back. With Ben.
The trite adage that everything happens for a reason certainly applies here. In returning and releasing their 2025 post-reunion reappraisal of their 2015 debut, Never Happy, Ever After, they brought things full circle, seemingly recalibrating something in them in the process. That this album has self-titled status says a lot about its authors’ intent.
Perhaps looking for some kind of reset, or to tap into their own nostalgia, As It is (the album) crosses back to the sunnier side of the street and embraces the good vibes that made their name. Well, as good a vibe as one can muster when you’ve got a song called Ruin My Life, an absolute barnburner featuring The XCERTS’ Murray Macleod. The Scots’ influence permeates proceedings elsewhere too, as the dashing Live, Laugh, Love, Los Angeles, featuring saxophonist Justin Klunk, sounds like something right out of their playbook.
If there’s a unifying theme to be found here, it’s the one signified in on-the-nose fashion by the sunny Lose Your Way & Find Yourself, a track a year in the making, namely a return to happiness and purpose after a period of disillusionment and fractiousness. This is, after all, the first music the band has made as a quartet in eight years.
Do You Remember? Certainly adds credence to that theory. A celebration of the band’s collective experiences, it’s written with an acknowledgement there’s been some drama along the way (‘’Cause if you’re better dead than boring / It makes for better kinds of stories’). It also digs into the ouroboros of songwriting, that the pain and strain of being in a band becomes the fuel for later output (‘I have a habit of turning pain into sunshine on memory lane’).
As It is have undoubtedly made musically and conceptually more complicated records than this, but you’d be hard pressed to say they’ve made one that’s emotionally more complex. Armed with excellent tunes, a reinforced bond and barrels full of perspective, our heroes have captured As It Is, as they are - fun, fuzzing, and full of energy.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Neck Deep, State Champs, Yours Truly
As It Is is released on July 17 via FLG. Get your exclusive vinyl and T-shirt bundle now.
