When the idea of recording a 4th album came up (for the second time), American Football knew things were going to get darker. After touring a year’s worth of sold-out 25th anniversary shows around the world and releasing a covers album (featuring Iron & Wine, Ethel Cain, Blondshell & more), the quartet of Mike & Nate Kinsella, Steve Lamos, and Steve Holmes, linked up with producer / engineer Sonny Diperri (My Bloody Valentine, M83, Kurt Vile) to record what would become their most substantial record to date. Blending atmospheric textures with emotive, post-rock style catharsis, 'LP4' is unlike anything American Football have recorded thus far, yet it fits right in with their evolving and beautiful catalog.

Recorded during a 10-day retreat at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA, 'LP4' finds the band intentionally walking into the abyss - themes of divorce, upheaval, and uncertainty are at the forefront, yet the band sounds more engaged and legitimized than ever before. Opening track, 'Man Overboard', showcases each member’s strengths - the un-matched style and jazz swing of Lamos’ drumming, the lyrical vulnerability and multi-instrumental mastery of both Kinsellas, and Holmes’ signature guitar work - all of it swirling together like a shoegaze tornado, the guitars and bass surging into something twisted and warped. Other standouts like 'Blood On My Blood' showcase the band’s unique use of alternating time signatures while 'Bad Moons' (the longest track the band has ever recorded) includes some of Kinsella’s most intense lyrics yet. The album also features additional guest vocals from Turnstile’s Brendan Yates ('No Feeling'), Wisp ('Wake Her Up'), and Rainer Maria’s Caithlin De Marrais('Blood On My Blood').

'LP4' is an ambitious artistic statement from a band who have continued to push the boundaries of genre and culture. It’s a gorgeous and elaborate album, one that takes its time to show you its beauty, while hinting at the darker parts that are trying their best to stay hidden.

TRACK LISTING

1. Man Overboard
2. No Feeling
3. Blood On My Blood
4. Bad Moons
5. The One With The Piano
6. Patron Saint Of Pale
7. Wake Her Up
8. Desdemona
9. Lullabye
10. No Soul To Save

On October 12th & 13th, 2024, American Football performed two sold- out shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles - part of the band’s 25th anniversary tour for their self-titled debut album. Featuring guest appearances from Ethel Cain and M.A.G.S., these special shows were recorded for American Football’s first and only live album, 'American Football (Live in Los Angeles)'. To coincide with the album’s release, the band teamed up with Prophet Media and director Steph Rinzler for the release of a full-length concert film, featuring candid interviews with the band, Ethel Cain, Yvette Young, and M.A.G.S. Both the film and album captures the legacy and unexpected staying power of a group that helped define a genre.

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Five Silent Miles
2. The Summer Ends
3. Honestly?
4. For Sure Feat. Ethel Cain
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7. I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional Feat. M.A.G.S.
8. Stay Home / The One With The Wurlitzer

The quietest voices can be the most durable.

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it.

Like Slint’s 'Spiderland', or Codeine’s 'The White Birch', even Talk Talk’s 'Laughing Stock', American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release.

Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s 'American Football (LP2)'. The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come.

‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’

Enter 'American Football (LP3)'. ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

As a result, LP3 is less obviously tethered to the band’s past than the second album. An immediate contrast between LP3 and its two predecessors is its cover. The two previous albums featured the exterior and interior of a residence in the band’s original hometown of Urbana, Illinois (now attracting fans for pilgrimages and photo opportunities), by the photographer Chris Strong. But American Football knew that LP3 was an outside record. Instead of the familiar house, this time the cover photo (again by Strong) features open, rolling fields on Urbana’s borders. It is a sign of the album’s magnitude in sound, and of the band’s boldness in breaking away from home comforts.

American Football also joked that LP3’s genre was ‘post-house’, because of this very conscious visual break. But, in a strange way, there are links in LP3 with an actual post-house genre: shoegaze. The more exploratory members of the original British shoegaze scene were inspired by the dreamtime and circularity of house music (ambient house in particular), cherishing its sonic possibilities. That spirit drips into LP3, most obviously on ‘I Can’t Feel You’, a collaboration with Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

The album also features Hayley Williams from Paramore on the album’s catchiest moment, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’, and Elizabeth Powell, of the Québécoise act Land Of Talk. Mike wrote lyrics in French especially for her.

LP3 is contemplative, rich, expressive, yet with a queasy undercurrent. It is heavy with expectancy, revealing its ideas slowly, eliciting the hidden stories people carry around with them. ‘I feel like my lyric writing has changed a lot over the years,’ says Mike. ‘The goal is to be conversational, maybe to state something giant and heavy, but in a very plain way. But, definitely in this record, I keep things a little more vague.’ As on the first album, the lyrics on LP3 may seem confessional and concentrated, but the more you scrutinize them, the further their meaning slinks away. Or, as Mike tellingly sings on ‘I Can’t Feel You”: I’m fluent in subtlety.

‘Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band,’ says Steve Holmes. American Football is now a bona fide ongoing focus, and they are making some of the best music of their lives. American Football (LP3) stands with two other rare reunion successes – Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine’s mbv – as a fine example of how a band refinding one another can augment, rather than taint, their legacy.

‘I think that there are those albums, or the music that you heard when you were younger, and they imprint on you,’ says Nate. ‘And no matter where you go, or what you do they’re always there.’ He is talking of Steve Reich – an early and ongoing influence on American Football – but he might as well be reflecting what is said of his own band, and the ardent following they inspire. American Football stands as an enduring symbol of elusive emotional landscapes, where introspection can be as dramatic as confrontation.

TRACK LISTING

1. Silhouettes
2. Every Wave To Ever Rise (feat Elizabeth Powell)
3. Uncomfortably Numb (feat Hayley Williams)
4. Heir Apparent
5. Doom in Full Bloom
6. I Can’t Feel You (feat Rachel Goswell)
7. Mine to Miss
8. Life Support

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album’s release, Polyvinyl are releasing a new remastered edition of the album with re-imagined artwork and packaging.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Meant
2. The Summer Ends
3. Honestly
4. For Sure
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8. Stay Home
9. The One With The Wurlitzer

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.”

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album’s release, Polyvinyl is thrilled to announce American Football (Covers), a genre-spanning covers album that highlights the importance and wide-ranging influence of the band’s debut. The album features covers of each song by critically acclaimed acts such as Iron & Wine, Ethel Cain, Blondshell, Manchester Orchestra, Novo Amor, Lowswimmer, Yvette Young, and others. Each cover wonderfully highlights the beauty and importance of this noteworthy debut while affirming the continued interest in this unexpected groundswell of cultural prominence.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Meant (Iron & Wine)
2. The Summer Ends (Blondshell)
3. Honestly (Novo Amor & Lowswimmer)
4. For Sure (Ethel Cain)
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon (Yvette Young)
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me (Girl Ultra)
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional (M.A.G.S.)
8. Stay Home (Manchester Orchestra)
9. The One With The Wurlitzer (John McEntire)

American Football's first album showcases cleanly picked guitars, intricate drumming, and the vocals of Mike Kinsella (Owen, Cap'n Jazz). The band, made up of Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos rooted itself in Champaign and recorded this album at Private Studios with Brendan Gamble (Braid). Despite little touring and with only an EP behind them, these nine songs highlight the trio's uncanny songwriting abilities.

TRACK LISTING

LP1
1 Never Meant
2 The Summer Ends
3 Honestly?
4 For Sure
5 You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6 But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7 I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8 Stay Home
9 The One With The Wurlitzer

LP2 (Deluxe Edition Only)
1 Never Meant
2 The Summer Ends
3 Honestly?
4 For Sure
5 You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6 But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7 I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8 Stay Home
9 The One With The Wurlitzer
10. Intro – Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997
11. Five Silent Miles - Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997
12. Untitled #1 – The One With The Trumpet – Boombox Practice Session, 1998
13. Untitled #2 - Boombox Practice Session, 1998
14. Stay Home - Boombox Practice Session, 1998
15. Untitled #3 Boombox Practice Session, 1998
16. Never Meant – 4 – Track Album Prep, 1999
17. But The Regrets Are Killing Me – 4 – Track Album Prep, 1999
18. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional - 4-Track Album Prep, 1999
19. The 7’s - Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997