When The Rolling Stones handpick you to open up for them at Ireland’s biggest stadium, you know you’re onto a winner. Ireland’s most exciting new export are The Academic; 2020’s Mick Jagger-approved indie-pop princes-in-waiting. A party-starting four-piece, their super-uplifting, hugely melodic guitar-driven sound is the product of a tight-knit gang who’ve been playing together since school, when they first bonded over the sounds of The Strokes and Vampire Weekend. This is a taut six-song EP, led by the brisk new wave styled single Anything Could Happen, which draws from the stop-start rhythms of Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. With lyrics about those who are “saving all your feelings for Saturday night” and going on benders of the emotional kind, it’s a song about personal growth, friendship and accepting that nobody is perfect. The tracks were produced by former Kaiser Chiefs drummer Nick Hodgson.