Next Friday, July 10th, Midwest emo legends American Football will be playing their biggest Philadelphia show ever when they headline Franklin Music Hall as part of the first US leg of their “No Feeling” World Tour, which comes in support of their fourth self-titled LP [American Football (LP4)], and first in seven years, which dropped May 1st on Polyvinyl (also home to our phriends Momma, Palehound, and Squirrel Flower). However, we’re even more excited about the return of American Football’s Polyvinyl labelmate IAN SWEET, the indie rock project of LA-based musician Jilian Medford, who will be opening the show. Medford will be touring ahead of IAN SWEET’s fifth full-length (and second for Polyvinyl), Shiverstruck, which drops on July 24th.
Shiverstruck was written during Medford’s second year living in NYC (She’s since relocated to her native Los Angeles.), when the singer/songwriter took up a day job working as a children’s music teacher. “Watching children respond to music for the first time; their faces lighting up completely unselfconscious, it rewires your brain as a songwriter and steers you more towards honesty. Everything felt immediate and real,” Jilian said of the experience in a recent press statement, which encouraged her to let the songs find their own forms, instead of trying to mold and remold them herself, which she has said led to a more honest collection of work: “Music has pushed me to be more empathetic, to pay attention to emotions and experiences that aren’t always comfortable, and channel that into something that feels authentic.”
IAN SWEET has already dropped three singles from Shiverstruck (one of which you can expect to hear July 17th, on the July edition of Philthy Radio, my show for Y-Not Radio). Lead single “Criminal Kissing” explores the ongoing desire to revive the sweetest sentiments of an experience that ultimately proved to be destructive. Follow-up “Jilian” has Medford meditating on the emotional toxicity the artist indulged in while living in New York. And of most recent single, “Silver Screen,” Jilian has explained, “‘Silver Screen’ is about restless ambition and striving for things that always seem just out of reach. I’ve spent a lot of time imagining some future version of myself where everything finally clicks and falls into place. I’m always looking ahead but somehow miss what’s right in front of me.”
The last time we saw IAN SWEET in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was July of 2022, when Jilian and her band headlined Johnny Brenda’s in support of her recently released STAR STUFF EP (She did play PhilaMOCA in 2024.) Although the show was a bit underattended, likely in part to Courtney Barnett and Lucy Dacus’ double-headlining show at The Mann’s Skyline Stage with our buddy Samia the same night (which famously had both of the headliners rained out following Samia’s set), but the band did provide a memorable performance of STAR STUFF, in addition to highlights from the first three full-lengths. Get your tickets to see IAN SWEET open Franklin Music Hall for American Football on July 10th below, listen to Shiverstruck’s three singles, and check out some of the photos our own Morgan Kelley took of the July 28, 2022 show at Johnny Brenda’s (Check out Jilian’s sweet Heavy Metal shirt!!!)
*Get your tickets here.
