American Football – “Uncomfortably Numb” (Feat. Hayley Williams) Video
If you’ve heard anything about the third self-titled American Football album, you’ve probably heard about its trio of all-star guest vocalists: Paramore’s Hayley Williams, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, and Land Of Talk’s Elizabeth Powell. We didn’t get to hear any of them on lead single “Silhouettes,” which was great all the same. Still, it’s pretty exciting to encounter one of those big-name guests on the new single out today.
“Uncomfortably Numb” is the collaboration with Hayley Williams. It’s a true duet between the Paramore singer and Mike Kinsella, the two of them each taking lead at times and backing each other up with gentle harmonies and countermelodies. The music is a melancholy ramble that resembles Death Cab For Cutie, and the lyrics are about how life only gets more confusing as you grow up — a subject Williams tackled a lot on Paramore’s great After Laughter. “I blamed my father in my youth,” Kinsella sings. “Now as a father, I blame the blues.” Later, the pair join together to proclaim, “The lessons are so much less obvious the further you get from home.”
The song arrives today with a video directed by Atiba Jefferson. Pro skater Paul Rodriguez, Workaholics actor Blake Anderson, and Samhain drummer London May all make appearances in the clip, which riffs on Kinsella’s closing lyric, “I’ll make new friends in the ambulance.” Watch below.
American Football is out 3/22 on Polyvinyl. Pre-order it here.