After releasing their reunion album in 2016, the members of
American Football started trading song ideas and demos back and forth and realized their sound had evolved.
LP2 came across like a continuation of what they had begun so beautifully on
LP1 15 years earlier;
LP3 takes that sparse, intricate, and emotional sound and expands it in new and interesting ways. The quartet stretch the songs out, adding long instrumental passages. They add a wider range of instruments to the arrangements -- including vibraphone, bells, keyboards, and vocal choirs on one track -- all of which give the songs a new richly burnished feel. For the first time, they bring in outside vocalists to sing with
Mike Kinsella.
Land of Talk's Elizabeth Powell adds lovely French backing on the languid "Every Wave to Ever Rise,"
Rachel Goswell of
Slowdive adds softness to one of the album's few up-tempo songs, "I Can't Feel You," and
Paramore's
Hayley Williams adds her strong vocals to "Uncomfortably Numb." Their contributions mostly work well, adding texture to the arrangements, though
Williams' powerful style does threaten to overpower
Kinsella and adds a layer of pop sheen to the proceedings that is somewhat at odds with the resigned and introspective nature of the lyrics. All the sonic changes seem organic enough; the band doesn't do anything that sounds out of sync with their past efforts. The album does err a little on the side of slickness, which at times dulls the emotional impact of
Kinsella's words and aching vocals. It also means that the record slips into the background at times, especially when the songs stretch past the six-minute mark as they almost all do. That being said, it is still an
American Football record and they still know how to splice jagged and jangling guitar lines into affecting shapes, craft melodies that pluck gently at the heart strings, and write words that cut deep -- though it'll be interesting to learn how well the themes of parenthood and growing older resonate with the young fans who've recently discovered them. Anyone over the age of 40 should recognize most of what they're singing about, and even if you don't, the sweeping melancholy and epic presentation should be enough to make this deep dive into relaxed angst a journey worth taking for the third time. ~ Tim Sendra