It’s been nearly seven years since post-rock/emo band American Football released LP3, but it wasn’t meant to be. Writing the new album hit its first snag in 2020, with the band finding it veritably impossible to write and collaborate effectively over Zoom. Cracks were becoming insurmountable.
Then the group saw the fallout and departure of drummer Steve Lamos (who returned a couple of years later), while singer/guitarist Mike Kinsella faced the truth of his alcoholism, infidelity, divorce, and marriage to his affair partner. From there, the tone and approach to the new album shifted, reflecting the controversies and dark reality that had set in, perfectly summarized in the opening lyrics to the jangle-infused “Wake Her Up,”: “I have a morbid fascination of trauma that I can’t mend.”
American Football returns to Austin for Levitation, playing Stubb’s on Thursday, September 10th. LP4 is out now on Polyvinyl Record Co.
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