American Football
American Football (LP3)

Exactly twenty years ago, American Football released their debut, destined to become a cult album for subsequent generations. American Football's project was supposed to disappear as quickly as it appeared. And so it was: the band disbanded shortly after and disappeared.
However, Mike Kinsella was not content with the end that he had brought to his band from his youth. So, nearly fifty, married, with a family and a few gray hairs, he decided to try again, to give a second chance to that high school project. In 2016, there was that name again: American Football. Once again, the house on the cover, as in the 1999 record, there was that sound again. Nothing had changed, yet the age, accumulated wisdom, and a radically changed life made the band's second album more mature, more refined, more calculated. It didn't reach the high peaks of emotion and sensitivity of the debut, but it was nonetheless a good restart, a perfect point from which to resume activity.

Now, three years later, here is the third album from American Football. What to expect? What will be inside? There are indeed some novelties: the house on the cover disappears, this time depicting a sunset tinted with purple, pink, and blue (no more green which dominated the previous two covers), and for the first time, there are external collaborations. In 2019, American Football seems finally determined to be a real band, not an ephemeral project.

It all begins with the seven minutes of “Silhouettes”, a graceful ballad where Mike Kinsella's brutal honesty in the lyrics perfectly blends with his sense of humor. A layered, musically complex track that combines dramatic hypnotic guitars, a deep bass line, and gentle drums with an unusual glockenspiel and strings as a backdrop. An alchemy that fascinates, that brings peace, and that demonstrates how aware the band is of their enormous abilities as musicians.
The subsequent “Every Wave To Every Rise” presents the first of three features on the record: that of Elizabeth Powell from Land Of Talk. Thus, a female voice, which adds elegance and delicacy to an already refined piece by itself. The themes addressed in this song (and in the entire album, to be honest) are themes dear to Kinsella & Co., such as being parents, being husbands, being adults, being middle-aged men.
The three collaborations pleasantly surprised me: if the one already mentioned with Liz Powell is excellent, the other two are no less. An addition of female voices that bring elegance, sweetness, and depth. The young Hayley Williams (singer of Paramore) appears in “Uncomfortably Numb”, one of the more “cheerful” tunes on the record. I know, saying this track is cheerful might be an exaggeration, but it's still one of the pieces that exudes the most positivity.
The splendid Rachel Goswell of Slowdive elevates “I Can't Feel You” to the best track on the album. A song with darker, more shoegaze, more obsessive sounds. A breath-taking guitar round and Rachel's vibrant voice seem like an incorporeal, intangible presence. However, the rhythm is sustained, and the guitars gain courage, hinting at a remarkable solo in the middle part of the tune. Simply fantastic.

Throughout the album, there is not a moment in which American Football's identity wanes. Not a moment where their unique and iconic style cannot be perceived, where echoes of the emo of their beginnings mix with refined modern indie-rock (who said The National?) and moments close to the more refined shoegaze (see Beach House). Eight gems of enormous quality. Eight tracks of magnificent beauty, speaking of being adults and all the difficulties that entails. Therefore, reflective and introspective lyrics, but they never weigh the listening too much, and indeed, they make one reflect with peaceful nostalgia and delicate irony.

In its almost eight minutes of duration, “Doom In Full Bloom” knows how to move with the unavoidable trumpet of American Football. A trumpet that has always been the band's trademark and could not be missing even here. Perhaps the most poignant track on the album, reflecting on the difficulty of maintaining a lasting relationship in adulthood.

“You're buried in the library, just you could hide from me; I've never been so alone—so desperate to be home.”

The album closes with “Life Support”, a devastating track in which strings blend with mellifluous guitars, to accompany hand in hand a Mike Kinsella who proves to be an excellent singer, as well as a songwriter. A strong voice, with choruses peeking from behind. A perfect combination of melancholic melody and voices that are dark and at the same time positive.

The third American Football is a great album with a big heart. The harmony between the emo reverberations of the past and the refinement of more adult indie-rock works. We are certainly not in the presence of an absolute masterpiece, but we are undoubtedly in the presence of a well-done album, with a sincere soul.