American Football released their first self-titled album through Polyvinyl on 14 September 1999. Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos had already decided to go their separate ways. These nine songs captured the band just as it was ending.
Never Meant Takes Its Time
The guitar figure in Never Meant circles before the vocal comes in. Elsewhere, trumpet, brushed drums and the space between parts give the record its intimacy. Nobody seems in a hurry to fill every gap.
The House On The Cover
Chris Strong's photograph of the house in Urbana became inseparable from the album. The band and Polyvinyl later helped preserve the property, and Strong returned to direct the 2014 Never Meant video there. It's a real place that listeners had spent years imagining.
Finding Listeners After The Split
File sharing, word of mouth and later reissues brought LP1 to listeners who missed it the first time. Its guitar style fed into Midwest emo and math-rock revival bands. The songs also showed how much feeling you could leave unresolved.
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