Spectreview: American Football – American Football (LP3)

-LIGHT CORAL-

“Oh, the muscle memories
Continue to haunt me”

Every band that gets back together after eons of separation knows that convincing their old devoted fans to acknowledge their growth as a group of musicians (and as a group of humans) is an uphill battle, and this is especially true for perennially youthful genres like emo. Well here’s the T: the members of American Football, one of the progenitors of the emotional explosion at the turn of the century, are in their 40s. At some point you have to shrug your shoulders and understand they’ll never be the young adults they were when they released their classic first self-titled LP. If you go into LP3 with that attitude, chances are you won’t be disappointed. The cover art says it all: it’s a controlled burn of their original sound, a new horizon for a landmark emo band closer to middle age than adolescence.

Let’s be clear: there’s not too much that’s changed from LP2, an enjoyable if often unremarkable return to the band’s stomping ground. In retrospect, LP2 was the kind of album a band feels the need to release after years of inactivity just to prove they still have it. LP3 still glimmers with arpeggiated guitar chords and soft meter changes, but smart writing (and smart production) gorgeously reupholsters these familiar elements. “Silhouettes” opens unfamiliarly with socketed xylophone, introduces each non-percussive instrument separately to establish the downbeat, then surges forward with the guitars and drums the band is known for. It’s a staggering effect that also represents the kind of non-intrusive changes they’re working with here. “Doom in Full Bloom,” the album’s breathtaking climax, features elements both familiar (the return of those horns) and fresh (hand claps, layered harmonies). Of course Mike Kinsella’s vocals were destined to be the weakest parts of American Football’s part-two records; it’s part inability to escape modern vocal mixing, part inevitable lyrical incongruousness. However, his decision to invite both Hayley Williams, whose music is no doubt inspired by the band’s, and Rachel Goswell, who herself experienced a career resurgence in 2017’s Slowdive, punctuates the band’s aspirations to insert themselves into those metamorphic ranks. Don’t kid yourself: LP3 could never make the same impact as their defining record, but LP3 is a success on its own terms, finding new avenues for an emo institution.

Not recommended for the people who lived in that old house (but recommended for just about everyone else).