American Football's fourth self-titled album will be out at the top of May. It's a bold evolution for the Midwest emo greats, though a recent magazine profile indicates turmoil behind the scenes involving alcoholism, alienation, and familial discord. However, their guest on today's new single may have one-upped them in the "turmoil behind the scenes" department.
That guest is Turnstile's Brendan Yates, whose father was run over by former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert last week, leading to Ebert's arrest on attempted murder charges. New details on that case are emerging via fresh reporting published today — specifically, Ebert says he acted in self defense — but in this post I want to focus on the new song has also emerged. That song, "No Feeling," finds Yates beaming his distinctive voice into the texture of American Football's bleary, depressive post-rock. It's a wonderful thing to hear.
American Football's Mike Kinsella explains that Yates pivoted from his original role on the song:
Brendan came into the studio to sing along to a 'gang vocal' call-and-response part I’d written for the chorus of "No Feeling." I had imagined his voice would be one of many voices scream-singing it, and was excited for it to be a sort of Easter Egg on the album. But after tracking the original parts, he asked if he could try a higher harmony that he was hearing. As soon as he started singing it, all of our jaws dropped, and we all were looking at each other like "Oh shit! THAT'S the dude from Turnstile!" His voice is so singular, and once he sang the part in his range, it was clear that the part now belonged to him and him alone…"
Cady Buche and Travis Barron of Unlimited Time Only directed the "No Feeling" video. They shared this statement:
Our goal with music videos is to tell a story that captures what we think and feel while listening to the song. When we listened to “No Feeling” for the first time, we thought a lot about mysterious places like outer space and the bottom of the ocean — they’re beautiful and they also kind of freak you out. The music also brought to mind the idea of going down with the ship or a sense of crushing inevitability. Then we thought, what if you flipped that? What if you opened on a sunken ship and that was the beginning? What if this sunken ship were a thriving habitat for ghosts who live there? What if something came along that jeopardized their beautiful afterlife?
Watch below.
American Football is out 5/1 via Polyvinyl.
