LP4 is almost here. American Football's fourth studio album — announced February 18, arriving May 1 on Polyvinyl Records — is already one of the year's most anticipated releases, and the band has shared precious little about it beyond the tracklist and cover art. Which is, of course, exactly how American Football would handle this.
Let's talk about what we know. The tracklist runs 10 songs: 'Man Overboard,' 'No Feeling,' 'Blood On My Blood,' 'Bad Moons,' 'The One with the Piano,' 'Patron Saint of Pale,' 'Wake Her Up,' 'Desdemona,' 'Lullabye,' and 'No Soul to Save.' No previews have been shared as of this writing. The cover art is stark and formal, in keeping with the band's history of album artwork that communicates mood without pictorial content.
The context matters enormously here. LP4 arrives seven years after LP3, which itself arrived after a 17-year gap. American Football's relationship with time is one of their defining characteristics: they moved slowly, deliberately, and with the understanding that releasing an album under their name is a significant cultural event. LP1 (1999) became one of the canonical emo texts. LP2 (2016) proved they could still make something essential. LP3 (2019) was occasionally miscalculated but had its moments. LP4 carries the accumulated weight of all of these.
'Patron Saint of Pale' is the title that keeps me up at night. American Football has always been a band that treats grief and memory with enormous specificity — Mike Kinsella's lyrics on LP1 remain remarkable pieces of observation about the small details of difficult feelings. A song called 'Patron Saint of Pale' suggests the band is still operating in that territory.
The tour that accompanies LP4 supports immigrant rights causes through ticket sales. This is consistent with the political seriousness that the band has shown increasingly over their career. LP4 may be the most American Football album ever made — slow in its approach, serious in its purpose, released on their own terms. May 1.