Pioneers of the Midwest emo scene, American Football have been pivotal not just to the emo genre, but to much of the rock of the 2000s and 2010s. After 16 years on hiatus, the band reformed and started making music again. Their output has been slow and not as good as their debut, but there is excitement and hope that they will return with a good album. Seven years since their last work, they have returned with their deepest and most atmospheric album, focusing on more droning, distorted guitars while keeping the typical midwestern melodies they helped revolutionize.
The first single off the album, “Bad Moons,” clocks in at eight minutes as a post-rock song. The band uses elements of the genre to help the emo atmosphere of the music. With this song, they expand more to unique sounds that they normally won’t do. For example, much of the instrumentation is stripped back and lo-fi, creating a calmer atmosphere. They build into sweet crescendos similar to the band Sigur Rós, though not as grand and epic. The melodic vocals, downtempo melody, and overall vibe of quality in the writing of the song was very exciting and made me want more already.
Their last single, “No Feelings,” features vocals from Brendan Yates, the frontman of hardcore punk band Turnstile. Continuing with the post-rock elements, the guitars echo more than in the last song, which is mixed well with Yates’ background vocals. This creates a somber yet hopeful vibe to the song, which works perfectly with the lyrics as it tells the story of someone dying and says their goodbye to their family. This is another great single that made me even more excited for the rest of the album.
T intro track, “Man Overboard,” continues the dream-like production of the last song with more complicated guitar riffs that are loud and whining, adding the ambience of the atmosphere that lengthens and enlarges to a grand, large noise until being resolved at the end. There’s a larger-than-life type of spirit to the song that makes it very pleasant to listen to, especially for the first track of the album. And combined with deep humming in the background, makes this easily one of the band’s most complex and interesting songs they have made. If there is one thing I have to criticize, it is how jarring some of the time signature usage is at the beginning of the song. Otherwise, definitely a good start to this album.
Around mid-way through the album, a big problem starts to become super apparent: all the songs start to sound the same. While this isn’t the worst thing in the world, it does start to take a toll on the quality of the music over time. I like the sound of American Football a lot, but it did get to me very fast, and I wanted something more from just that. “Wake Her Up” is a perfect example of this, as it feels as if you took the title of the song; it could be any song in this album, and I wouldn’t really know the difference. Again, I do think the sound is good, but you can’t just repeat something and expect it to be good. It does annoy because the main highlight of the song is the guest appearance from the upcoming shoegaze artist, Wisp, who is sadly more interesting than the rest of the song itself.
The final track of the album is “No Soul To Save,” which is a fine final track. I do have to say that they did put more effort into this track with the use of more interesting percussion instruments like chimes, along with acoustic guitars to add warmth to the atmosphere of the song. Besides that, though, there are moments that feel like a repeat of all the other tracks from this album. But, unlike the other tracks, I do think that it does give more for the listener than any other tracks on the album, which is nice, but again, I do wish for more on this album.
While I won’t say that most of the songs on here are the worst thing I have ever heard, I do think there would have been more thought put into how this album could have been done. I would’ve liked more of the rawness from the first album, as some parts do feel over-produced and more variation of song elements. All that being said, I’m going to give this album a 7 out of 10.
