reviews / 2026

AMERICAN ANALOG SET - Destroy Destroy Destroy

Name: AMERICAN ANALOG SET – Destroy Destroy Destroy
Item: Destroy Destroy Destroy
Rating: 8.5
Author: Lorenzo Righetto

2026 (Numero group)

alt-pop-rock, kraut-rock, slowcore

by Lorenzo Righetto

8.5

Taken under the wing of the venerable Numero, the American label dedicated to unearthing and repackaging worthy but forgotten bands, American Analog Set have received a genuine honorary treatment, with their catalogue reissued in two batches. While the first collection, "New Drifters", covered the early albums (1996-99), "Destroy Destroy Destroy" presents their post-2000 output: "Know By Heart" (2001), "Promise Of Love" (2003) and "Set Free" (2005), plus an EP and various tracks.

This is a golden opportunity to rediscover a quietly essential band, one with an aesthetic as minimalist as it is distinctive, which clearly went on to inspire contemporary or later bands such as Death Cab For Cutie (who perhaps even clumsily tried to imitate their refrains and chord progressions, especially on their later albums).

Built around essential acoustic instrumentation yet assembling a full, layered sound unlike other slowcore bands of the era, the Austin band's songs make powerful use of musical space, with evocative interplay between instruments and timbres and excursions into adjacent but not necessarily connected territory (the Sea and Cake of "The Kindness of Strangers").

Compared to their early records, the band's expressiveness here becomes even more recognisable, imbued with a palpable authority in the definition of their own sound, one that almost imposes itself on the listener ("The Green Green Grass", the exceptional "Everything Ends In Spring") - helped too by the skilful use of repetition that has always been a defining, foundational trait of the band, earning them the "slow-kraut" tag ("Fool Around", "Cool Kids Keep").

A musical immersion that leaves you utterly entranced, amid brushed drum patterns, the band's characteristic keyboard punctuation, visceral guitar contortions, and Andrew Kenny's monotone, hypnotic voice ("Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home") - an experience absolutely not to be missed.

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21/06/2026

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Lorenzo Righetto, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition