I hadn’t intended writing about this band today, but I ran out of time with the thing I did want to write – spreading myself thin again.

American Football is another band I’ve stumbled upon recently.  I was reading Pitchfork, the online music magazine.  There is an amusing article from Feb 2016 about this band; amusing because the writer waxes lyrical about what a shame it is that they are never going to make another album, because their first and only record showed such promise.  I looked them up and was a bit confused to find 2 albums listed – they released their second album two months after the article was written, much to the surprise of the music press it seems.

When I listened to their first album from 1999 I was slightly enchanted.  The music belies the lyrics I think which are so heart-breaking and full of melancholy as they chart the difficulties in a relationship. The guitars are beautiful (I was sort of reminded of mid to late 90s Teenage Fanclub, or is that just me?), there are trumpets in places and the off kilter, swaying melodies are soporific in a calming way; yet the subject matter is quite gloomy in places.   The second album released last year continues with a similar sound and themes.  It’s almost as though they’ve had a lovely peaceful time of it for the past 17 years until something has triggered the need to vomit up and share the emotion again.

But quite honestly, I don’t know what I’m talking about here.  I’m just trying to explain my response to listening to it.  I don’t know enough about this scene or music in general to provide a more informed view I’m afraid (Wiki says it’s Emo – I curled my lips at this, hey, what do I know?), but I’m here to learn.

Yet again ‘Spillers I come to you to fill in the gaps in my musical knowledge.  What can you tell me about all this and who else should I be tracking down?