“Under bad moons, I’m a bad bone/I’ve got some bad news/I only feel alive when I’m alone.”
American Football’s post-reunion era has always felt like an exercise in attempting to thread together a nostalgic past and a more fraught present. In a recent GQ profile, each of the band members confessed to their own struggles with being defined by a debut album now made more than a quarter-century ago, contrasted with the realities of aging, divorce, and interpersonal friction.
And yet, on their fourth self-titled album, American Football (LP4), the band manages to turn disparate personal tragedies into a collective opus that is disarming and often breathtaking in its achievement. This is the sound of a group of longtime (at times estranged) friends reconnecting with their collective chemistry, and also re-contextualizing it.
American Football, famous for defining the chilled-out sound of Midwest emo for a generation of fans, have never sounded so grandiose and widescreen. Yet the scaled-up sonic ambition across LP4’s runtime acts as the perfect soundtrack for a series of devastating lyrical confessions from frontman Mike Kinsella – who has never written so plainly about divorce, addiction, and the lingering affects of trauma.
Opener “Man Overboard” opens with Steve Lamos’ frantic syncopated drumming setting the scene, before Kinsella’s gentle croon softly enters frame: “If I ever set sail, promise you won’t wait for me”. Touring/session member Cory Bracken’s vibraphone adds a gentle melodic touch to the track’s slow-building cacophony; Bracken’s contributions throughout the record add a gorgeous texture to the often somber proceedings.
“No Feeling” is elevated by a wonderfully subtle vocal contribution from Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, never overpowering Kinsella’s lyrical narrative. The guest features on LP4 are a testament to American Football’s multi-generational appeal, with Caithlin De Marrais of fellow Polyvinyl emo veterans Rainer Maria adding wonderful shades of melancholy to “Blood on My Blood”; and viral shoegaze singer-songwriter Wisp, who was born the same year LP1 turned five, bringing an ethereal yet upbeat twist to the epic scope of “Wake Her Up”.
As a whole, LP4 has the feel of a group that is both reflective and keen to expand outwards. The sheer ambition of some of these tracks’ musical twists and turns may come as a surprise to some longtime fans, expanding upon the experimental seeds planted by 2019’s LP3. This is the sound of American Football embracing their veteran status without resting on their laurels. It manages to serve as a startlingly personal document of midlife anxiety, and an adventurous expansion into uncharted sonic waters, without either of those threads feeling in conflict with one another.
As the album comes to a close with the lyrically incisive yet beautiful closing notes of “No Soul to Save”, American Football manage to prove that their early success was no fluke – these guys were made to play music together, even if they may not have always realized it themselves. LP4 is a poignant reminder of the collective power of music to bring together lost souls, and heal old wounds. It is quite possibly the band’s finest post-reunion work, and a testament to the resilience of this oddball group’s continued bond. American Football fans can only hope that bond continues for many years to come.
9/10
American Football (LP4) releases on May 1 via Polyvinyl Record Co. and can be pre-ordered here.