Review Summary: The Kings of Why
Seventeen years after the release of their seminal debut record, American Football return with their sophomore record (once again title “American Football”). Unfortunately, LP2 (which it will be called from this point on) sounds more like another Owen record rather than an American Football record, and with the underwhelming “The King of Whys” released back in July, this may or may not be a good thing.
However, even with this not being quite the American Football album long-time fans expected, it’s still very solid. LP2 features the same lush guitars, jazzy drums, harmonized crooning and emotional vocals from all those years before, but much more refined with nearly 20 years of experience added to the mix. Mike Kinsella’s voice has never sounded better than it does here, which is good considering that unlike LP1, vocals are the main focus this time around. Also, the welcome addition of Nate Kinsella on bass was much needed to fill in those empty spots in the low end that were sometimes glaring on LP1.
Opener “Where Are We Now” starts off with a familiar American Football trope of dueling, clean guitar riffs that play with each other so beautifully that it immediately takes you back to when you first heard LP1. Lead single “I’ve Been Lost For So Long” has a driving bass line and four-on-the-floor beat during the verses that allow Kinsella and Steve Holmes to create some great melodic arpeggios. ”Desire Gets In The Way” is incredibly catchy and has a playful, uplifting feel to it, with a great lead riff driving the song. Closer “Everyone Is Dressed Up” is possibly the most emotional song on the record, with a fantastic vocal performance and a beautiful trumpet solo in the bridge.
The big issue with his album, however, is that most of LP2 sounds so much like the last 3 Owen records that it makes you wonder why this was even labelled as an American Football record. “Home Is Where The Haunt Is” and “Born To Lose” are prime examples of this, with the former being led by an acoustic guitar, much like most Owen songs, and the latter sounding like a leftover song from the “Ghost Town” recording sessions. It’s more so the arrangements of the songs as well as the pop structures that Kinsella has experimented with since “New Leaves” that are problematic. This album sounds too much like an Owen album, even to the point where it sounds like he is playing all the instruments, considering that a lot of the instrumentation sounds exactly like what was played on “L’Ami du Peuple”. It doesn’t seem like there was enough influence from the other 3 members of the band, and therefore, it starts to drift back into Mike Kinsella’s solo material.
The album also blends together, which could be good and bad. It is very consistent, and each song is good; but most of the songs sound the same and can be hard to distinguish. The beauty of LP1 was that every song on that album was unique in some way, whether it was the trumpet-led “The Summer Ends” or the 8-minute long epic “Stay Home”, there was something different about each song. On the other hand, most of LP2 is the same song over and over again, with “Home Is Where The Haunt Is” and “Desire Gets In The Way” being notable exceptions, but for only small reasons.
LP2 is by no means a bad album. It is littered with great songs, and it is a nostalgia trip in the best possible way. This album shows that American Football are still strong musicians and songwriters, but the fact of the matter is, this is an Owen album; not an American Football album. It was a nice try on the band’s behalf, but it doesn’t even come close to their debut.
