American Football: American Football

Bigger than Jesus? No.

Many great artists are not fully recognized until after they're finished. So American Football, like Vincent Van Gogh, Mississippi John Hurt, and Jesus before them, may find glory in the afterlife: their self-titled debut came out just as they had broken up. Because they have only put out one other release—a truly divine three-song EP in the Polyvinyl singles series—American Football will probably not create a new religion. But they can try.

The band does, after all, have an ambitious sound; it is a mix between that of fellow Chicagoan bands the Sea and Cake and Joan of Arc, using the Cake's jazzy beauty, and Joan of Arc's intricate layering of guitar lines. Despite being only a threesome, they use the studio to manipulate their guitars into echoing each other in different octaves and times, while gradually introducing more patterns as their songs wend along. At its best (the first song, "Never Meant"), this technique creates richer, more elusive themes than most bands are capable of. At its worst (the trumpet-inflected "For Sure"), American Football sound like something between the blandest Pell Mell album and the soundtrack to a karma shop.

Fortunately, the band is able to avoid this trap for almost the entire record. The main reason is Mike Kinsella, the lead singer, guitarist, and bassist. His lyrics, like Joan of Arc's, separate the band from the rest of its contemporaries. Even though Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch always claims to have written "the saddest song," Kinsella's are more honest and deeply felt. He takes Joan of Arc's all-too-clever word play ("Don't regret forgetfulness/forget regretfulness"), and strips it of its grinning confidence. In the album's best track, "I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional," he sings, "You're so cold to accidents/and misunderstandings you may accidentally misinterpret honesty," and then, "We're too human/beings." The relationship between the two bands goes deeper than stylistic similarities: Joan of Arc's lead singer is Tim Kinsella, Mike's elder brother by two years.

Unfortunately, American Football never quite reaches the level of the band's earlier release. That album is out of print but still can (and should) be found. Still, Jesus is smiling. (Polyvinyl)

—Nathaniel Rich

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