"..and when the damn things came down, I thought...

...I might as well write about them..."


So goes Mark Eitzel's reason for writing 'Windows Of The World', a song from American Music Club's new album 'The Golden Age'. It might seem like a blasé or even curt way to describe a song about the collapse of the Twin Towers, however for a large amount of people who love the band, it is this type of black humour they find so appealing. It is also one of the reasons that American Music Club should be considered a vital voice for America. It is a voice that rivals Frank Bascombe's as an outlet for examining a country's conscience, and taking account of America at a particular moment in time. Similarly to Richard Ford's creation, the songs of American Music Club do this with subtelty, wit, and, well...dark humour. Since AMC were reformed (for want of a better term) a number of years ago, they have released 'Love Songs For Patriots' (2004) and 'The Golden Age'. The anger that permeated throughout 'Love Songs...' (have a listen to 'Patriot's Heart' from the album for the best example) has been replaced with a more reflective tone, but none of the incisiveness has been lost in the meantime. What appear on first listen to be throwaway lines, reveal themselves over time as cutting dissections of American obsessions and aspects of its culture.