When American Football frontman Mike Kinsella appears on a Zoom call to discuss the group’s new album, “LP4,” a virtual background makes it seem like he’s on an island vacation. An odd but natural juxtaposition emerges between the makeshift sunny paradise and the nuanced, vulnerable music that’s taking the once-Midwest emo pioneers to a new frontier.
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Kinsella takes the video call in Chicago after meeting a longtime high school friend for lunch, and when asked how he’s channeled his innermost thoughts and feelings into “LP4,” he said part of it is being purposeful with the music.
“I couldn’t imagine trying to dumb it down or pretend like this real-life stuff isn’t happening to me and us and only singing about new fun stuff,” he said. “Yes, I put all this heavy stuff in the music, but today I just had lunch with my best friend since high school, so it’s not all doom and gloom. The music is just sort of where the doom and gloom seems to come out.”
The group is getting ready to head out on the fall leg of their tour in support of “LP4,” with a stop at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Thursday, Sept. 24, where they’ll perform from their recent work that breaks away from their usual iconic melodies and instrumentation with a tinge of honest tenderness.
“We started building the tour from the ground up around April or May, and we’re getting better,” Kinsella said. “It’s a work in progress, but everybody’s got their own new songs that they’re feeling and getting comfortable playing live in a different way. It’s really fun to play to people, and they’re singing the new song back at us, which is cool and feels really good.”
From left to right, American Football’s Mike Kinsella, Nate Kinsella, Steve Lamos and Steve Holmes will perform at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Photo by Alexa Viscius)
From left to right, American Football’s Steve Lamos, Mike Kinsella, Nate Kinsella and Steve Holmes will perform at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Photo by Alexa Viscius)
From left to right, American Football’s Steve Holmes, Mike Kinsella, Steve Lamos and Nate Kinsella will perform at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Photo by Alexa Viscius)
Nearly 30 years after the band released “LP1” as college kids, the new fourth album captures the next chapter for the 40-something musicians, filled with themes of divorce, grief and introspection.
The lyrics carry a “screw it” feeling, putting everything on the table. A good example is the eight-minute, serene and melancholic “Bad Moons.” The track delves into the qualms of time passing you by and the yearning to return to simpler childhood worries that feel like a feather compared to the ones adulthood brings.
“It felt really good and cathartic to just be like a vulnerable grown man, even a bit more publicly,” Kinsella said. “Now [that] the band [has] got more exposure, I just feel a little more vulnerable, and that can also be a little scarier.”
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Sonny DiPerri, who worked with My Bloody Valentine, Trent Reznor and Mike and Nate Kinsella on their 2023 synth side project LIES, produced the album. It also features guest vocalists Brendan Yates of Turnstile, Caithlin De Marrais of Rainer Maria and Natalie R. Lu of Wisp, showcasing the band’s new terrain while welcoming a multi-generational influence.
The inclusion of Yates came up by chance on a day he happened to be in Los Angeles. They asked the Turnstile frontman if he would be willing to sing the gang vocal part in “No Feeling.” Yates agreed, came over to DiPerri’s home studio, and fiddled with it and the harmonies to make it his own.
“I have videos of us when he was tracking the vocals, and we all stood up and got chills when he hit this one harmony, and we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a guy from Turnstile.’ It’s not just our buddy Brendan. He has a unique ear and voice. I thought it meshed straight into the song.”
The album’s 10 tracks sound different from anything else the band has released, but they still carry an emotional undertone that is arguably emo. When asked how Kinsella feels about being credited with sparking the Midwest emo subgenre, Kinsella said he can hear the technical influences behind it, but doesn’t always hear what others do when making the comparisons. Still, he doesn’t mind the band falling under that banner.
“Everything I’ve ever written, I’m just trying to sound like The Cure, The Smiths or other bands that I grew up listening to,” he said. “I think it’s futile to try to tell somebody that they’re listening or hearing things wrong or something because that’s how they hear and interpret it. As long as people like it, then it’s cool.”
Kinsella says that although they’re getting ready to hit the road to promote their most recent release, he’s still thinking about what’s next.
“I’m always trying to write the next album and trying to correct whatever I think I could, even in comparing the latest album that just came out,” he said. “I’m always like, ‘Oh, I could do that better; I could do that differently; I could do more than just say it or maybe more honesty.’ We still have some touring left, and come New Year, it sort of winds down a bit. I hope we can get some time to get in a room together and write.”
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American Football
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.
Where: The Observatory, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana.
Tickets: Admission starts at $53.50 via Ticketmaster.com.