American Football Makes Their Grand Return to the Studio After Seven Years (OP/ED)

On May 1, 2026, American Football released their first full studio album in over seven years—their fourth eponymous album, American Football (LP4). This is what WGHS student and VIRIDIAN staff member Beckett DeWitt had to say about the band's newest release.
​by Beckett DeWitt

American Football is a staple of emo and math rock, and while I haven’t delved much into either genre, American Football (LP4) (which I will refer to as just LP4 from now on) is a record I can definitely appreciate. American Football is a band that I can accept as an icon and a staple of emo culture. This album, however, stands out from the rest, as it shows many more elements of post-rock compared to the other albums in the band’s self-titled franchise. It shows similarities to bands like Slint, with slow, progressive guitar plucks over dramatic drums on songs like “Patron Saint of Pale.” I was also a fan of the creeping, ambient drones over bass on the intro of “Blood On My Blood.”
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This album is very atmospheric in its sound, with one example being “Man Overboard,” the first track and one of my favorite songs on the album. It starts with slow humming and heavenly tones before the drumming starts, and it ends with echoey, reverbed vocals repeating “man overboard” and “it’s hopeless” over droning guitar chords and the same drums. These elements blend together perfectly to capture a feeling of overwhelming despair before the sound eventually dissipates into guitar feedback and moody droning.

Something that stuck out to me was the desperate, sad lyricism that covers the record. On "No Soul to Save," Mike Kinsella sings, “Ladies and gentlemen / You've watched me walk through fire / Swallow swords and ugly desires / I've nothing left to fear / Now, for my next trick, you can watch me disappear.” Kinsella finds a way to make these edgy, depressing, and somewhat cryptic lyrics fit perfectly over heavy guitars and irregular percussion reflective of drums that you might hear on a free jazz record.

While the record was good, it was definitely not perfect. Tracks sometimes felt repetitive, with little to no difference in how they sounded. Even though LP4 sounded different from their other records, tracks blended into each other in a way that made it hard to separate one from another by unique sound alone. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s not something I enjoy.
Overall, this was a good album. No more, no less—it was good. I rate American Football (LP4) by American Football a 7/10.