American Football Releases 'Bad Moons' Ahead of Fourth Album

American Football has dropped "Bad Moons," an eight-minute lead single from LP4, their fourth studio album arriving May 1 via Polyvinyl Records.

The track merges two distinct compositions into a meditation on maturation and adulthood. Frontman Mike Kinsella constructed the song from separate demos the band had circulated internally—one sparse and whimsical with children's voices and tinkling toy pianos, the other dense with distorted guitars and aggressive percussion.

"I had already been singing the '(…) in the dark' mantra over the latter, so the biggest challenge for me was thematically bridging the innocence and buoyancy of the first act with the deep despair of the second," Kinsella explained in a statement.

The narrative concept centers on duality. "I decided to begin the song as a child. Or, rather… two," he continued. "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. 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."

Directors Alex Acy and Rémi Belleville shot the accompanying video in rural Quebec. Acy noted the geographical and cultural parallels to the Midwest, where American Football originated. "I think part of growing up is realizing you can only become more empathetic with others once you become empathetic with yourself," Acy said of the video's themes.

Sonny DiPerri produced LP4, bringing experience from his recent work with Kinsella and his cousin Nate Kinsella on the synth-focused project LIES in 2023. The album represents the band's most experimental effort yet, described as "layered, dissonant, occasionally confrontational and always deeply felt."

LP4 marks the group's third full-length since reuniting in 2014. American Football will tour extensively throughout 2026 in support of the record, kicking off May 15 in Denver and concluding Aug. 16 in Minneapolis.