REVIEW: American Football - American Football (LP4)
Take four...
49:38 // May 1, 2026 // Polyvinyl
It’s highly doubtful that American Football will ever truly escape the long shadow cast by their iconic debut album, but if they’re ever going to, LP4 lays out a convincing template. With its blood and/or forest fire-tinted artwork advertising a bleaker outlook than ever, the Midwest emo of yesteryear supplanted by post-rock utilizing patient builds and somber riffs, and an immersive sense of atmosphere, this feels like a revitalized band taking on a form we’ve never heard before. Better yet, this style fits the musicians’ talents nicely - of particular note, Steve Lamos’ drumming is vital here, both ear-grabbing and bringing cohesion to the swaying, swelling soundscapes, and Mike Kinsella’s vocals, always rather one-note and perhaps also strained with the advancing years, fit in with the instrumentals perfectly, all the while providing an aching emotional gravitas.
The formula is well-crafted, there’s no question. Even better, though, most of these songs are top-notch, and this is pretty clearly the strongest collection the band’s put out since the turn of the millennium. “No Feeling” flows along steadily, but its mix of chiming beauty and brooding tension suggests that, contrary to the title, you’ll feel something. “Bad Moons” is dark and provides a lyrical gut punch while delivering an epic feel which other tracks are content to skirt. In the album’s latter half, meanwhile, “Desdemona” is a stunner which took me longer to appreciate, its gorgeousness unveiling slowly upon repeat listens.
While the previous paragraph cites three personal highlight tracks, LP4’s overarching strength is its cohesiveness,reliably pulling the listener into its delicate shroud of autumnal decay and wallowing sense of melancholic beauty. Some songs stand out more than others, and there are occasional transcendent moments - Kinsella’s heartbreaking delivery of the lines “Your daughter’s not dead, she’s just asleep, for hours on end, for days, forever, she dreams” against the most heavenly musical backdrop this side of the pearly gates comes to mind - but what you’ll most remember about this album after one listen or ten is its lush and enveloping nature. LP4 is beautiful, and sad, and delivers those attributes in a notably different way than its iconic predecessor. Who can ask for more?
8.0/10