When I was first afforded the liberty of interior-designing the college house I moved into last summer, I took it upon myself to ensure the eight Midwesterners living in the abode felt properly represented.
Logically, I chose to smother the walls with numerous artistic iterations of the famed house that graces the cover of American Football’s first full-length album.
To me, this image — and the band as a whole — epitomize the Midwest in every perceivable way. Besides the fact that the members collectively embody the energy of some chunky white New Balances that only the most vicious Midwest Dad could rock, the sound characterizes something equally comforting and hallowing, akin to the great plains of Urbana-Champaign where the band was birthed.
“There were never aspirations that one day I would have people carrying my amps for me,” frontman Mike Kinsella said when asked about the band's association with the Midwest. “It was always, ‘I'm going to carry my amp through the snow, it's going to break, and I’m going to get a job to pay for it.’ Kind of working class in that way.”
A tale as old as time to any musician who has endured the troubles of a Midwestern winter show. “I would like to think our Midwest morals and ethics come through,” Kinsella said. “It's unassuming and unimposing.”
But the band’s persistent “Midwestern-ness” shouldn’t indicate any stasis. Having released their fourth eponymous record this past May, American Football’s maturity has been sonically cataloged since the band’s inception as students at the University of Illinois.
LP4, as the album has been colloquially deemed, is as understanding as it is disorienting. With themes of the acceptance of dejection and the refusal of easy resolution, it looks at middle age through a painfully realistic lens that’s sure to resonate with all who are familiar with the vast emptiness of the Midwest.
After my conversation with them, I can confirm they possess the twinge of charm that can only be gained by growing up in small-town middle America. Listen to our full conversation using the player at the top of the page, and find their fourth album out now.
