Sanctions (Pre-Order)

• Limited Edition 1st Pressing on Clear Vinyl
• Pre-orders come with a download of the first single "Boom Boom"
• CD & vinyl download include 2 bonus tracks "Sorry State" & "Bad To Be Good"

"Souled American is this thing that went into the ocean, learned it could breathe underwater for three decades, and now it's gonna breach the surface and show us its gills." -Jonathan Lethem, novelist

Between 1988 and 1995, Chicago's Souled American released six records. Their style evolved from alt-country precursor to an ambient Americana that one critic termed "trance roots." Though they received little attention at the time, their influence hung in the atmosphere of bands as diverse as Cracker, Califone, the Mountain Goats, and the Fruit Bats. Recent write-ups in Uncut Magazine (April 2025) and on NPR.com (June 2023), as well as lengthy raves in new books by Jeff Tweedy (World Within a Song), Mark Guarino (Country & Midwestern), and Ira A. Robbins (Music in a Word: Volume 3) testify to the continued affection and admiration stirred by these old recordings.

And now Souled American return after thirty years with a work of immediate relevance. Arriving just in time, with decency roundly mocked, as dissent spells career disaster and algorithms isolate us into units of convenience, Sanctions dares explore roots and traditions in both sound and consequence, revealing a band that has lost members but gained gravity. Acclaimed by Jeff Tweedy, The Jayhawks, John Darnielle, and Counting Crows, Souled American here elevate their unique style of ambient Americana into a life-altering experience full of feeling and drama, like some ink-stamped elegy fresh off the printing presses of Walt Whitman.