American Football Scores Another Touchdown with Third Self-Titled Album
Photo Credit: Atiba Jefferson
Indie band American Football graces listeners with drifting melodies and a soaring rhythm guitar that connects each song to another on their third self-titled studio album, American Football (LP3). The first song and single of the album, “Silhouettes,” opens with a glittering vibraphone and glockenspiel dance. It’s engaging and leads seamlessly to the guitar’s unceasing harmony that permeates each of the following tracks. In fact, that simple intro to “Silhouettes” is perhaps the emptiest part of the whole album. Without it, however, the song would absolutely be missing something.
“Uncomfortably Numb” features Hayley Williams of Paramore. Her voice paired with the main vocalist, Mike Kinsella, creates one of the most dynamic emo-indie songs as of late. Though certainly not zealous in physical song structure, the way in which these artists elevate emo qualities of the song to a mature, easily listenable tune shows the growth that the genre can accomplish. The conscious development of mature lamentation in lyricism and vocal intonation is impressive.
While the harmonics across each song are so similar that the album can easily shift to background music, it maintains enough variance to jump right back to the forefront for active listening. Creating an album with songs that blend into each other can be a dangerous line to walk, but American Football does it well.
The Urbana, Illinois band began their career in 1997, with members Mike Kinsella, Steve Lamos, Steve Holmes, and Nate Kinsella. After the release of their first album American Football (1) in 1999, the band agreed to disband. The release of that first album however curated a devoted and extremely patient fanbase. It wasn’t until 2014 that the band came back to play a handful of shows in Champaign and New York. American Football (2) was released in 2016, alleviating concerns that the shows were merely teasers.
American Football seems to be back for good. Guitarist Steve Holmes says, “Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band.” With this newly polished, delightful sedative of an album that alludes to the past while bringing new refreshing sounds to the table, we can’t wait to see what American Football has in store next. Upcoming tour dates to promote the new album are listed below.
MAY
10 - Arcosanti, AZ @ Form Festival
12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater $
13 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall $
15 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom $
16 - Vancouver, BC @ Imperial $
17 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo $
19 - Sain-Thérèse, Quebec @ Santa Teresa Music & Arts Festival
21 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
22 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club %
23 - Washington, DC @ The Black Cat %
24 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw %
25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw %
JUNE
21 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall ^
22 - Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall ^
25 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf ^
27 - Dallas, TX @ Trees ^
28 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk ^
29 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall ^
JULY
26 - Niigata, Japan @ Fuji Rock Festival
28 - Niigata, Japan @ Fuji Rock Festival
$ w/ illuminati hotties
% w/ Pure Bathing Culture
^ w/ Tomberlin
