Alternative
Expert Work Records / The Ghost Is Clear Records · 6 November 2026
The New Hollywood cinema of the late ’60s and the ’70s is what American Motors have pointed to as a guide for “Functional Music”, their second album, according to Kevin J. Elliott’s note on its Bandcamp page. Expert Work Records and The Ghost Is Clear Records released it on 6 November. According to the credits, J. Robbins recorded it at The Magpie Cage in Baltimore over the first four days of May 2026. Dustin Travis White plays guitar and sings, Alex Steward plays drums, and Andrew Krause, whom the album’s liner note introduces as a touring member, handles bass. All the songs are by White and Steward.
There are eight tracks and around thirty-five minutes, from “obvious” to “gold star”, and the longest is the seven-minute “margaritaville pt. 2”. “no horses” was released ahead of the album in September and “marlboro miles” in October. The title “5408 big tyler”, the same note says, refers to an apartment block in West Virginia, White’s home state.
The band formed in 2023 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their debut, “Content”, came out on 4 October 2024, also on Expert Work, and Robbins recorded that one too, at the same studio, over five days in April and May; that time Brad Williams played bass and Dan Coutant mastered it.
Text by Marçal Bonastre