American Football - American Football: Review
American Football
is the legendary Illinois based emo band who's 1999 album American Football became a legendary pillar of midwest emo and math rock and is considered by some to be one of the best albums of the 90s. The band reunited 15 years later and after playing a series of shows, released their 2nd studio album in 2016 to very mixed reviews. Now three years later than band tries to rekindle their magic and recover their reputation with a 3rd album.
Review By Lavender:
American Football (1999) is by nearly every metric and brilliant and successful album. It was the pioneering moment for midwestern emo and has a legendary reputation among music fans. The project still resonates with me to these days and contains some songs that I believe are absolute masterpieces. While many were hostile towards their second effort in 2016 I tried to look for what the project did well as much as what it did wrong. While their songwriting took a hit there were a lot of moments of pristine sincerity across the album that I thought were overlooked by critics wanting to hate them for coming back and diluting their reputation. But after three singles that I enjoyed including the brilliant Silhouettes I am more confident than ever in the band to drop an excellent project.
Let's talk about that lead single now. Silhouettes is the song that got me excited for this album and is an experience all its own that is on par with the content on the legendary debut album. The fantastic seven minute song contains some classic emo tropes, the instrumental stays fresh throughout as it dives and ducks between unique time signatures. The melancholy but not overly dramatic lyrics are fantastic and the delivery is so genuine. The twinkling background is gorgeous and fits the songs mood perfectly to tie a perfect bow around one of my favorite songs I've heard on an album so far this year.
Uncomfortably Numb was the second single and one that worried me a lot. When the tracklist was dropped there were some names attached to it I was very excited about, and then there was Hayley Williams of Paramore. But as it turns out the feature really isn't that bad and even though this turned out to be my least favorite single I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Once again the lyrics are fantastic and even though the chorus doesn't hit it out of the park for me the vocal performance from Mike Kinsella is fantastic. Every Wave To Ever Rise was the 3rd and final single and contains Land Of Talk frontwoman Elizabeth Powell delivering the best performance this album has to offer. Her airy french vocalizing adds a ton of amazing content to the song. This has one of the softest and most engaging instrumental palettes of the entire song and the more I listen to this track the more I've fallen in love with it.
So that was the songs we had heard so far and the rest of the tracks here bring a scale from the excellent to the simply dull. Heir Apparent is a blissful classic emo tune with fantastic driving acoustic guitars and twinkling keys. It's a contemplative song that contains great lyrics about selfishness and has a fantastically genuine performance at its core. The chorus vocals at the end aren't perfect but the composition ultimately gets wrapped up in a satisfying way. Similarly Life Support has some of the same excellent sounds laced throughout it. With some of the most weighty drums on the project and some creative compositional changes it is a very solid closing moment to the album. I Can't Feel You was a song I was excited for as it features Rachel Goswell of Slowdive and it delivers in some capacity. The track has the hazy layered guitar sounds of a dreamy shoegaze tune and her airy, barely there vocals are a refreshing change of pace and a nice touch to the track. I wish it was a little bit better on the songwriting front as there isn't a very tight progression and it has some terribly uninteresting passages.
The two weakest tracks in my opinion are Doom In Full Bloom and Mine To Miss. Despite its provocative title Doom is one of the most boring songs on the entire record as the first half is a painfully slow blur with a lack of much of any tangible moments. Once it gets into its second half there is much more substance and form to it but it still isn't a highlight and listening to the entire track can be a chore. Mine To Miss is a pretty well written song with a good concept at its core but it has the only vocal performance that I found to be underwhelming and one of the least interesting instrumental palettes on the project.
So with American Football (2019) the band finds moments where they return to peak form and even though the album may not be as revolutionary or consistent as their iconic debut, it is far more satisfying and engaging then their 2016 comeback album. When all is said and done I enjoyed a lot more of this project then I didn't and I'm looking forward to anything American Football may do in the future. 7.5/10
For more indie reviews check out my review of Foals Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt. 1 here.
Let's talk about that lead single now. Silhouettes is the song that got me excited for this album and is an experience all its own that is on par with the content on the legendary debut album. The fantastic seven minute song contains some classic emo tropes, the instrumental stays fresh throughout as it dives and ducks between unique time signatures. The melancholy but not overly dramatic lyrics are fantastic and the delivery is so genuine. The twinkling background is gorgeous and fits the songs mood perfectly to tie a perfect bow around one of my favorite songs I've heard on an album so far this year.
Uncomfortably Numb was the second single and one that worried me a lot. When the tracklist was dropped there were some names attached to it I was very excited about, and then there was Hayley Williams of Paramore. But as it turns out the feature really isn't that bad and even though this turned out to be my least favorite single I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Once again the lyrics are fantastic and even though the chorus doesn't hit it out of the park for me the vocal performance from Mike Kinsella is fantastic. Every Wave To Ever Rise was the 3rd and final single and contains Land Of Talk frontwoman Elizabeth Powell delivering the best performance this album has to offer. Her airy french vocalizing adds a ton of amazing content to the song. This has one of the softest and most engaging instrumental palettes of the entire song and the more I listen to this track the more I've fallen in love with it.
So that was the songs we had heard so far and the rest of the tracks here bring a scale from the excellent to the simply dull. Heir Apparent is a blissful classic emo tune with fantastic driving acoustic guitars and twinkling keys. It's a contemplative song that contains great lyrics about selfishness and has a fantastically genuine performance at its core. The chorus vocals at the end aren't perfect but the composition ultimately gets wrapped up in a satisfying way. Similarly Life Support has some of the same excellent sounds laced throughout it. With some of the most weighty drums on the project and some creative compositional changes it is a very solid closing moment to the album. I Can't Feel You was a song I was excited for as it features Rachel Goswell of Slowdive and it delivers in some capacity. The track has the hazy layered guitar sounds of a dreamy shoegaze tune and her airy, barely there vocals are a refreshing change of pace and a nice touch to the track. I wish it was a little bit better on the songwriting front as there isn't a very tight progression and it has some terribly uninteresting passages.
The two weakest tracks in my opinion are Doom In Full Bloom and Mine To Miss. Despite its provocative title Doom is one of the most boring songs on the entire record as the first half is a painfully slow blur with a lack of much of any tangible moments. Once it gets into its second half there is much more substance and form to it but it still isn't a highlight and listening to the entire track can be a chore. Mine To Miss is a pretty well written song with a good concept at its core but it has the only vocal performance that I found to be underwhelming and one of the least interesting instrumental palettes on the project.
So with American Football (2019) the band finds moments where they return to peak form and even though the album may not be as revolutionary or consistent as their iconic debut, it is far more satisfying and engaging then their 2016 comeback album. When all is said and done I enjoyed a lot more of this project then I didn't and I'm looking forward to anything American Football may do in the future. 7.5/10
For more indie reviews check out my review of Foals Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Pt. 1 here.
