American Football Is Back 17 Years After Their Influential Debut

Emo is undergoing a major resurgence, so it seems fitting that one of the most influential bands in the genre are back after a lengthy hiatus. It’s been seventeen years since beloved Illinois emo band American Football released their debut album American Football, and they’re following it up with an album called… American Football.

Lack of creative titling aside, this is fantastic news! That just seems like such a nightmare, though, being a band called American Football who has only two albums and they’re both called American Football? But hey, who am I to judge, I’m the one who named my iPhone “Isis” back in 2005 when I was obsessed with a song off Bob Dylan’s Desire and now get extremely weird looks whenever I plug my phone into a friend’s iTunes.

Back to the matter at hand, American Football have released the first single off their new album, and it’s called “I’ve Been Lost for So Long.” It’s super existential and emo and quite good. “If you find me / Could you please remind me / Why I should wake up tomorrow,” Mike Kinsella sings at one point, and damn, if that doesn’t feel real in the year of Lord 2016 when Donald Trump is an actual candidate for president of our country. If you liked the old American Football, you will love the new American Football. And you won’t even have to learn a new album name! Listen below and check out the cover art and tracklist below, along with a select few tour dates.

American Football (2016) tracklisting:

1. “Where Are We Now?”
2. “My Instincts Are the Enemy”
3. “Home Is Where the Haunt Is”
4. “Born to Lose”
5. “I’ve Been So Lost for So Long”
6. “Give Me the Gun”
7. “I Need a Drink (Or Two or Three)”
8. “Desire Gets in the Way”
9. “Everyone Is Dressed Up”

Upcoming Tour Dates:
10/ 29 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre

2017
01/28 – New York, NY @Terminal 5
02/11 – London, UK @ Shepherd’s Bush Empire
02/ 25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Ace Hotel Theatre

American Football LP2 will be out 10/21 via Polyvinyl Records in the U.S. and Wichita in the UK. Pre-order it here.