American Football share first new single in seven years
After announcing a new album and a world tour, American Football have released their first single in seven years, titled ‘Bad Moons’.
Melancholic as ever, the chorus of the eight-minute track runs on the lyrical refrain, “I’ve got some bad news, I only feel alive when I’m alone,” while the song ends with several confessions of what our narrator gets up to “in the dark”.
Lead vocalist and guitarist Mike Kinsella has unveiled the complicated nature of the release, revealing, “‘Bad Moons’ is actually a Frankenstein of two different demos we’d been passing around for quite a while: one playful, with children playing and toy-pianos plinking; one brooding, with guitars screeching and drums bombasting.”
Kinsella noted that the “in the dark matra” had been an important part of the latter demo, but he struggled mostly with “bridging the gap” between the two diametrically opposed parts.
As such, he revealed that he “decided to begin the song as a child. Or, rather…two. Stacked up in a single trench coat; secretly, reluctantly living the life of a grown man, accruing all of his missteps and guilt along the way.”
He continued, “By the end, these missteps are almost spilling out of the boys. A cathartic confession, hopefully at least somewhat relatable to anyone listening who’s ever lived a life.”
The accompanying video, directed by Alex Acy and Rémi Belleville, in anchored in rural Canada and utilises slow-motion mantages to present the complexities of boyhood.
The new single serves as an embodiment of what’s to come from their recently announced latest album, titled LP4, due out on May 1st, 2026.
Earlier this month, the emo legends also revealed that they are set to embark on a mammoth tour of the US, Canada, and Europe, running from May until August this year. A portion of their proceeds will go towards anti-ICE charities.
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