American Football have shared Bad Moons, the lead single from their upcoming self-titled fourth album. The eight-minute track combines two original demos and comes with a music video directed by Alex Acy and Rémi Belleville. The album is set for release on May 1 via Polyvinyl.
American Football announced their fourth studio album, self-titled and commonly referred to as LP 4, earlier this month. The band released Bad Moons on February 25, 2026, as the album's first single. The track originated as two separate demos: one playful with children playing and toy pianos, and another brooding with screeching guitars and heavy drums. Frontman Mike Kinsella explained the creative process in a press statement: “I 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. 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 music video uses a slow-motion montage to depict the transition from boyhood to manhood, capturing the song's themes of innocence and despair. LP 4 marks the band's first release since 2019's LP3 and features 10 tracks, including Bad Moons. The album addresses themes of disorientation, compromise, grief, and the perspective of middle age, achieved through a new writing and recording process that results in a sonically ambitious sound—layered, dissonant, and deeply felt.
The tracklist is: 1. Man Overboard, 2. No Feeling, 3. Blood On My Blood, 4. Bad Moons, 5. The One with the Piano, 6. Patron Saint of Pale, 7. Wake Her Up, 8. Desdemona, 9. Lullabye, 10. No Soul to Save.
American Football will support the album with a tour starting May 15, 2026, in Denver, Colorado, covering North America and Europe through August 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For each ticket sold, the band will donate one dollar, pound, or euro to Safe Passage International and the Illinois Coalition for Immigration & Refugee Rights.
