American Football - American Football (Album Review)
Monday, 24 October 2016
Written by Alec Chillingworth
Photo: Shervin Lainez
“Where are we now? Both home alone in the same house.” The house plastered on the front-cover is the same as it was 17 years ago, but American Football have grown up a bit.
The Illinois emo legends have done a Refused. Their ‘Shape of Punk To Come’ was their 1999 self-titled debut, a record largely ignored upon release that has since become a cornerstone of alternative culture. Hundreds have copied it, none have bettered it and now American Football are back to reap the benefits.
But this is a different American Football. Nothing’s as raw or slapdash as it was on their debut, with Mike Kinsella’s slightly scratchy vocals on Desire Gets In The Way one of only a few throwbacks to that time.
They focus instead on reined-in, precise vocal hooks atop a ghostly musical canvas. It’s less spasmodic and far more instantaneous. My Instincts Are The Enemy, for example, boasts an intro that amounts to Weezer having an introspective, post-‘Pinkerton’ sunbathe.
But American Football have a signature sound and they’d be fools not to exploit it, seeing as they still pull it off way better than their legions of imitators. Kinsella and Steve Holmes’ cleanly-picked interplay remains absolute magic, lacing the record with personality. But it’s taut. It’s not restrained, but knowingly concise.
Steve Lamos’ drums on Born To Lose are a particular highlight, adding a dose of grandiosity he wasn’t really capable of back in ’99. The band’s twinkly, twee side presents itself on Home Is Where The Haunt Is, with flourishes of Springsteen keys adding extra sparkle.
American Football were in college when they recorded their debut, so this was never going to be a direct sequel, as such. Lamos whips out the trumpet again for Everyone Is Dressed Up and I Need A Drink (Or Two, Or Three), but it’s executed knowingly rather than in their debut’s rushed manner.
“I can’t believe my life is happening to me,” proclaims Kinsella, less the vulnerable manchild we thought we knew and more, well, an adult. This iteration of ‘American Football’ isn’t a collection of woe-drenched missives from a college kid. Rather than hormonal worries plucked from a diary, this is an examination of adult life and all the troubles it brings filtered through a moody, mid-tempo collection of charmingly catchy songs. This is American Football’s fully-realised take on bands like Joy Division, the Cure and R.E.M. And it’s rather good.
American Football Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat February 11 2017 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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