"I guess what I’m getting at is that American Football make the kind of music that brings people together via a feeling, or feelings, hope, love, lust, fear, sadness. The kind of music you want to hold close and keep secret but sing along to at the top of your lungs."
A self-titled debut which defined "Midwest emo". Rough Trade Liverpool's Evan Tate and Rough Trade Bristol's Adrian Dutt reflect on the lasting appeal of American Football, exploring how their sound has inspired generations of emo-music lovers.
Blending atmospheric textures with emotive, post-rock style catharsis, American Football make a welcome return in 2026 with LP4, an album unlike anything the coveted band have recorded thus far, yet it fits right in with their evolving and beautiful catalogue.
"Some records arrive exactly when you need them, and American Football have always felt like one of those bands."
Evan Tate, Events Manager at Rough Trade Liverpool
"For many people, American Football's self-titled 1999 debut arrives at a formative crossroads of first heartbreak or first real independence or the first time feeling both lost and certain. For me, it landed at the perfect moment, which was the start of college, let loose in Leeds city centre and forming the basis of the adult I’m yet to become. I didn’t have the language for how I felt at 18, but that record somehow did. Their first LP is one of the defining bodies of work in Midwest emo. Often misunderstood as sad guys with guitars when in reality it is about vulnerability, melody and emotional compasses. All portrayed through a canvas built up of emo lyricism, rhythms of math rock and the warm hug of indie rock, all turned into something graceful and timeless. Some would say generational.
There was a period where that CD barely left my first car CD player, the songs looping through college commutes and aimless detours. Additionally, there were (and still are...) the less glamorous mornings after with the curtains half drawn, with a pounding head and finding yourself emotional to the trumpet part in The Summer Ends. American Football excels at making melancholy feel comforting. It’s never indulgent nor theatrical, just honest.
Their importance to Midwest emo and adjacent scenes/genres is impossible to overstate. You can hear their influence everywhere, from the dreamy side of indie rock to post-rock textures and even in newer shoegaze-leaning bands, blessing the listeners with that same ache.
"Any time you hear bright, twinkling guitars paired with a horn or a complex drum rhythm, the instinctive reaction is still “that sounds a bit American Football'. I’m not saying that they invented the scene single-handedly, but they became its most recognisable."
With the new album in 2026, they are no longer cult ghosts or here for that reunion nostalgia; they are an evolving band with generations of followers. With hardcore and heavier guitar music back in the mainstream conversation, there’s room for something more raw from them this time around. Perhaps a record that reconnects with late 90s post-hardcore, however, on the other side of middle age experience, something I look forward to revisiting in my 40s!"
Adrian Dutt, General Manager, Rough Trade Bristol
I wish I could tell you that I listened to American Football’s debut when it was first released in 1999, it would have soundtracked my exams, via a Walkman, and probably set me on a different path in life, alas, I was knee deep in The Chemical Brothers and Reef (both alcopop and band) so the eureka moment didn’t hit me until the early noughties. I grew up in a tiny town that somehow had three record shops, all excellent in their own way. Thanks to them, I fell for emo and post hardcore in a big way. First came skate punk and the punk-o-rama compilations, buy two and get a free video (which I still have), featuring my favourite band at the time, Millencolin, but also a band that changed my life, The Get Up Kids. I was hooked on them and pledged my allegiance to emotionally angst-ridden guitar music via a lip piercing and a rapidly expanding CD collection of anything recommended to me. Thanks to a little handwritten note on a Dashboard Confessional MTV Unplugged CD, I discovered American Football. The age-old ‘for fans of’ technique, which makes a record shop rise to the top.
American Football were slower than everything I was listening to at the time, but packed a gut punch that had me quivering in my youth large Gildan band tee. They were my introduction to math rock, shimmering double-tapped guitars, long drawn-out instrumental sections, perfect for the existential crisis that was bubbling away inside. Everything sounded so clean and nice, hopeful but melancholy and unlike anything I had ever heard. They had a trumpet that wasn’t being honked in a ska-punk fashion for once, and it was really bloody nice, floating on top of cyclical guitars and slowcore drums, with a melty, hushed vocal melodies.
"How can a record FEEL autumnal, the chill in the air as the nights draw in and The Summer Ends (see what I did there?), it can instantly transport you to the middle of nowhere, sat round a fire, beer in hand and just having a real swell time with pals. Not many bands can do that. "
Their impact on music can literally be mapped. For me, the UK math-rock bands that followed in their footsteps are still some of the best: TTNG, Meet me in St.Louis, and Colour. If you’ve never heard them, check them out immediately. Settlefish, The Appleseed Cast, any of the ‘Emo is Awesome’ compilations, current Midwest emo band First Day Back, there are so many bands that can tip the hat to AF for inspiration. I can’t not mention the projects that came before and since; Owen’s At Home With Owen is a masterpiece, and perfectly soundtracked a breakup spent lying on the couch in a dark room. Cap N Jazz basically invented Midwest emo and did it perfectly, sweaty, angst, shout-along, and life-affirming. Joan of Arc gave us Molina-esque beauty. Lightning in a bottle, that lot.
"I guess what I’m getting at is that American Football make the kind of music that brings people together via a feeling, or feelings, hope, love, lust, fear, sadness. The kind of music you want to hold close and keep secret but sing along to at the top of your lungs. It’s music that is never meant to be forgotten"
Press Play...
American Football and a few Midwest aperitifs. Our friends at Qobuz have helped us compile Adrian's "American Football and beyond essential playlist".
Share with friends, fellow emo kids and everyone in between. What did we miss? Let us know @roughtrade.