5 days ago
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American Football have released “Bad Moons,” the first track from their long-awaited, self-titled fourth album.
Spanning eight minutes in lenght, “Bad Moons” features the band’s “signature intricate, interwoven guitar melodies, layered with dynamic rhythms, atmospheric effects, and soft confessional vocals,” according to a press release. Frontman Mike Kinsella said the band’s had the song in their back-pocket for quite some time, and that combining the two demos (“one playful, with children playing and toy-pianos plinking; one brooding, with guitars screeching and drums bombasting”) seemed like a novel enough sonic experiment.
Continued Kinsella, “I had already been singing the ‘(…) in the dark’ mantra over the latter, so the biggest challenge for me was thematically bridging the innocence and buoyancy of the first act with the deep despair of the second. I decided to begin the song as a child. Or, rather…two. Stacked up in a single trench coat; secretly, reluctantly living the life of a grown man, accruing all of his missteps and guilt along the way. By the end, these missteps are almost spilling out of the boys. A cathartic confession, hopefully at least somewhat relatable to anyone listening who’s ever lived a life.”
The song comes complete with a corresponding music video directed by Alex Acy and Rémi Belleville that “captures these [same] sentiments.” The clip makes use of a slow-motion montage to track the “turbulent and fragile transition” from boyhood to manhood. Watch it below.
Due out May 1st via Polyvinyl, American Football (LP4) houses “Bad Moons” and nine other tracks in total. The record sees the band “face some of life’s harshest realities head-on, reflecting on the disorientation, compromise, grief, and hard-won perspective of middle age.” As part of these “growing pains,” American Football switched up their writing and recording processes to create their “most sonically ambitious album to date — layered, dissonant, occasionally confrontational, and always deeply felt.” It’s the band’s first record since 2019’s LP3.
American Football will be on tour starting in mid-May behind LP4. The outing will see the band donate $1 from from every ticket sold to two immigrants rights groups, Safe Passage International and The Illinois Coalition for Immigration & Refugee Rights. Revisit their tour schedule following the album artwork and tracklist. Tickets are now available via Ticketmaster.
American Football (LP4) Artwork:
America Football (LP4) Tracklist:
01. Man Overboard
02. No Feeling
03. Blood On My Blood
04. Bad Moons
05. The One with the Piano
06. Patron Saint of Pale
07. Wake Her Up
08. Desdemona
09. Lullabye
10. No Soul to Save
American Football 2026 Tour Dates:
05/15 — Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall *
05/17 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
05/18 — Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall *
05/19 — Seattle, WA @ Moore Theater *
05/20 — Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom *
05/22 — San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom *
05/23 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern *
05/24 — San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park *
06/19 — Milan, IT @ Alcatraz !
06/20 — Stuttgart, DE @ Im Wizeman !
06/21 — Cologne, DE @ Die Kantine !
06/23 — Brussels, BE @ La Madeleine !
06/24 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso !
06/26 — Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy !
06/27 — London, UK @ O2 Kentish Forum !
06/28 — London, UK @ O2 Kentish Forum !
07/08 — Boston, MA @ Royale #
07/09 — New York, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount #
07/10 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall #
07/11 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club #
07/14 — Richmond, VA @ The National #
07/15 — Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel #
07/16 — Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse #
08/07 — Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues ^
08/08 — Toronto, ON @ History ^
08/09 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre ^
08/10 — Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall ^
08/12 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works ^
08/13 — Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre ^
08/14 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed ^
08/15 — Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom ^
08/16 — Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue ^
* = w/ Mei Semones
! = w/ Marconi Union
# = w/ IAN SWEET
^ = w/ Afternoon Bike Ride
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