7/10

If you’ve ever watched the sun dip behind a desert highway while your engine hummed with purpose, American Mile’s 'American Dream' will feel like a homecoming. Offering a true road trip release to drive to, windows down, grit on your boots, and nothing ahead but open road and unanswered questions.

On their second LP, the Southern California band sharpen their edge and turns up the volume. There’s a looseness here, a kind of confident grit that comes from logging hundreds of nights on dimly lit stages and dragging gear across county lines. They’ve taken the bones of their earlier sound and stripped it down to what hits hardest: big-hearted choruses, weathered lyricism, and riffs with the bite of worn leather.

Opening with a firestorm of southern twang and electric crunch, the album lays out its mission clearly. While the fingerprints of rock elders like Tom Petty and The Black Crowes are easy to spot, there’s nothing imitative about it. American Mile don’t wear their influences like a costume, they’ve soaked them into their skin.

'Straight from the Heartland' is the record’s soul-stained centrepiece. Built on gospel-infused harmonies and a chorus that begs for fists in the air. And then there’s 'Photograph of You', a punchier, hook-heavy slow burn that balances swagger with sentiment, suggesting they’ve spent just as much time in dive bars as they have staring out back windows at fading towns.

But what keeps 'American Dream' from slipping into nostalgia bait is its refusal to play it safe. There’s desperation in the quieter moments, rage in the solos, and a rare sincerity running through it all. 'American Dream' is a road trip album in the truest sense; unvarnished, untamed, and undeniably alive.