The cover of Yard Act‘s excellent third album, You’re Gonna Need a Little Music, pictures a piano about to fall on vocalist James Smith. As the story goes, a piano passed down to Smith by his late aunt was a crucial instrument while making the record. Smith and his bandmates are about to be crushed by the weight of a previous generation, or by expectations of fans and critics, or the music industry, or all of those things. You’re Gonna Need a Little Music is the first album, believe it or not, Yard Act have made while all being in a dedicated space together. The first two albums were made as individual parts in home studios or here and there while touring. Now, the band has fully gelled and it shows in every track.
“Empty Pledges” (with Smith’s aunt’s piano prominently playing) could be a rallying call for all of us to look away from our screens and turn off the news cycle – both of which ultimately provide us with nothing. Jay Russell‘s drum groove on “New Beginnings” is outstanding, as is the Zen message of “Purge yourself of sin, resist the urge to grin, spend your winnings on new beginnings. Breathe deep and take it in.”
“Tall Tales” takes on capitalism (one of Yard Act’s favorite subjects) with heavy-hitting lyrics like “Moral bankruptcy reigns supreme in the American dream.” “Fiction” has a slick bass groove from Ryan Needham that might make you slip on the sidewalk as you listen to it. The title track is also downright groovy.
Samuel Shipstone‘s guitar “Cherophobe Rock” is crunchier than that almond butter you put on your afternoon snack today. “Thrill of the Chase” has Smith pulling no punches whatsoever as he takes down egotists, liars, and anyone who gets in his way while Russell goes bonkers on his kit. “Janey Said” is a tale of Smith meeting an old flame in Berlin and realizing he isn’t sure if he wants love, life, or a career and she tells him he’ll hurt someone no matter what he chooses.
“Redeemer” is thick with sludge and grime as Smith muses on his inner rage and how he wants to express and understand it. He confronts aging on “Talky Talky People” (“When I was young, I was totally wired. Now I’m getting on, I’m only tired.”) and changes up his vocal delivery to Edwyn Collins-like smoothness, and the band ends the album with a great breakdown that would almost be a doom metal ham were it not for the Wild West saloon piano playing with it.
You’re Gonna Need a Little Music is a great title for an excellent record. Sometimes you need music to push through on a bad day, or to give you a boost for your workout, or just to shut out the rest of the damn noise, and Yard Act are happy to give it to you so hard that it will feel like you’ve been hit with a piano.
Keep your mind open.
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Leeds quartet Yard Act announce their new album, You’re Gonna Need A Little Music, out July 17th via Republic Records and release the lead single, “Redeemer.” You’re Gonna Need A Little Music follows the band’s UK Top 5 charting Where’s My Utopia? (2024) and their Mercury Prize nominated debut, The Overload (2022). Recorded between Leeds and Los Angeles with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Nine Inch Nails, Beck, St. Vincent), You’re Gonna Need A Little Music rings with the chemistry and energy of a band absolutely locked in. It’s simultaneously the most dynamic, collaborative, energized work they’ve laid to tape, but also contains some of the darkest, most cynical and truly questioning moments they’ve concocted too, picking up their tale and examining the findings more unsparingly than ever.
For a band so associated with incendiary live shows and constant touring, Yard Act’s third album marks the first time that the quartet—frontman and vocalist James Smith, bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell—have ever made an album together, as a live band in the same room. “The first two records were both laptop records essentially,” says Smith. The Overload was written alongside Needham before the band had fully formed; its follow-up, Where’s My Utopia?, was carved out in snatches of time on tour buses and hotel rooms. For the first time in a long time, Yard Act were able to settle into an “uninterrupted five month period” of creativity, crafting “40 or 50 songs” and allowing themselves to follow their ideas with no external pressure. “It felt like freedom,” says Smith. “It felt like everything I’d wanted from being in a band.”
Each track on You’re Gonna Need A Little Music has its own distinct character. The ominous guttural ferocity of today’s single, “Redeemer,” sits amongst a sleazy disco odyssey, fizzing indie, and loose, cerebral, meditations. Yard Act may have thrown the kitchen sink, or at least its cookware, at the track, with Meldal-Johnsen concocting a brittle, metallic texture out of a day of rattling pots and pans, but the result is direct, visceral and exciting.
No whimsical walk through suburban England, You’re Gonna Need A Little Music seeks to work through some of the most complicated facets of life. Intentionally, in some ways, it is a step away from Smith’s venerated vignettes and character studies; a move towards something more “impressionistic” and up for interpretation. “I think the album is about multiple realities and how individualism has led us, in the modern world, to question if there even is a shared reality anymore because everyone just believes what they want now,” Smith suggests. The questions are deep, but the spirit of You’re Gonna Need A Little Music is boundless – not for nothing does its title point to the power of art and creativity to rescue us from the mire.
Last month, Yard Act announced a summer North American tour including stops throughout the West Coast, East Coast and Canada. This marks the band’s first North American run since 2024. Tickets are now on sale and available here. Yard Act will also make several festival appearances across Europe in June and embark on an extensive UK and EU tour in the fall. A full list of tour dates is below.
We’ve reach the top ten albums I reviewed in the last five years. It gets more difficult to make these lists as the numbers grow smaller, but here goes.
#10: Yard Act – The Overload (2022)
These post-punkers seemed to come out of nowhere and hit us with multiple sharp singles from their debut. The whole album was witty, biting, and wicked.
#9: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – PostDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023)
Part-thrash metal, part-environmental activism record, all great. The title and cover image alone let you know you’re in for a wild time, and King Gizz pull no punches on it.
#8: DITZ – Never Exhale(2025)
A whole post-punk album about tension – a topic that post-punk does very well, as do these Brits. The cover image conveys the sense of the record and, like the music, puts you on edge and keeps you there.
#7: Aaron Frazer – Introducing… (2021)
Stepping out from his main gig with Durand Jones and The Indications, Frazer dropped one of the best soul records of recent memory and probably got a thousand date offers just from the first couple tracks.
#6: Gum / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times (2024)
This dynamic Australian duo created a cool, electro / dance-rock record that tackled grief and uncertainty. It made you want another one from them right away. I still do.
Who made the top five? Come back tomorrow. It was a tough call, but I made it.
Leeds quartet Yard Act announce a summer North American tour including stops throughout the West Coast, East Coast and Canada. This marks the band’s first North American run since 2024. Tickets go on sale this Friday, April 24th at 10am local time and will be available here. Yard Act will also make several festival appearances across Europe in June and embark on an extensive UK and EU tour in the fall.
Since 2020, Yard Act – frontman and vocalist James Smith, bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell – have become one of the great indie success stories of the decade so far. They’ve ticked off milestones ranging from a number two UK chart placement and Mercury Prize nomination for The Overload, to a co-sign from Elton John who joined the band to guest on a string-laden reworking of album closer “100% Endurance,” to multiple UK and US television appearances and beyond. Billboard described their last album, 2024’s Where’s My Utopia?, as “an uplifting and sometimes frenetic mix of trip-hop, dub, bass-and-drum indie rock, electronica, strings and sax punctuated by Smith’s mellifluous speak-singing,” while Under The Radar hailed it’s “an album that overflows, both in excess and excellence.”
Yard Act Tour Dates: (New Dates in Bold) Wed. June 3 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound Thu. June 11 – Porto, PT @ Primavera Sound Porto Thu. June 11 – Hradec Králové, CZ @ Rock for People Sun. June 14 – Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Thu. July 2 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter Wed. Aug. 5 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up Tavern Thu. Aug. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom Sat. Aug. 8 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Sun. Aug. 9 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall Mon. Aug. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre Tue. Aug. 11 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl Thu. Aug. 13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw Fri. Aug. 14 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Sat. Aug. 15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Sun. Aug. 16 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair Thu. Oct. 1 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale Fri. Oct. 2 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique Sat. Oct. 3 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVredenburg Mon. Oct. 5 – Cologne, DE @ Gloria-Theater Wed. Oct. 7 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich Thu. Oct. 8 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller Music Hall Fri. Oct. 9 – Stockholm, SE @ Kägelbanan Sat. Oct. 10 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA Mon. Oct. 12 – Warsaw, PL @ NIEBO Tue. Oct. 13 – Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory Wed. Oct. 14 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Fri. Oct. 16 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks Sat. Oct. 17 – Milan, IT @ Magazzini Generali Sun. Oct. 18 – Toulouse, FR @ La Cabane Tue. Oct. 20 – Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo Wed. Oct. 21 – Madrid, ES @ Teatro Eslava Fri. Oct. 23 – Lisbon, PT @ Cineteatro Capitólio Fri. Nov. 6 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Leeds Fri. Nov. 13 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Victoria Warehouse Thu. Nov. 26 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Today, Yard Act present their new single, “Petroleum,” another taste of their forthcoming second album, Where’s My Utopia?, out March 1st on Republic. The accompanying “Petroleum” video is a continuation of the prior James Slater-directed videos for “Dream Job” and “The Trench Coat Museum,” and stars friend of the band, comedian and creator of Starstruck, Rose Matafeo.
“Petroleum” lives on the second half of Where’s My Utopia?, which simultaneously contains some of Yard Act’s most grimly real and fantastically optimistic narratives yet. It was written after a touring nadir. “I lost it with the crowd in Bognor Regis and told them I was bored and I didn’t want to be there,” Yard Act’s frontman James Smith recalls. “Me and Ryan [Needham] had a row after, and Ryan rightly dressed me down for the way I acted. It got me pondering the idea that, now this is a job, what are the requirements of it? People think they want honesty but they don’t, they want me to portray the version of honesty that they’ve paid to see and that’s part of the illusion.”
Speaking about the ‘Petroleum’ video, Smith says: “‘Petroleum’ finds The Visitor as she stumbles into the hideout of a fearsome Biker gang called The Utopians. She’s still on the run from the H.G.E agents. It was a lot of fun shooting this video, and a joy to watch our friend Rose Matafeo bring the leader of The Utopians to life. Though the story isn’t being told in a linear format, I hope that the journey of The Visitor through the last three videos is starting to come together and reveal that we’re working on something bigger here. More to come!”
Rose Matafeo added: “I screen most of my phone calls, but when the phone flashes up ‘JAMES YARD ACT’ you’re gonna pick that up straight away. To feature in a Yard Act video has been on my bucket list ever since I added it to my bucket list after they asked me so I could have the satisfaction of crossing it off my bucket list. The overall vision for this album is so creatively ambitious and fun and cool and I’m so stoked to even be a little part of it. Sorry for my bad accent. Not sorry for the line dancing.”
Where’s My Utopia? follows Yard Act’s Mercury Prize shortlisted debutThe Overload, “a debut album bursting with character” (Uncut), and was co-produced by Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr. Written in snapshots of time in the midst of touring, the album is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters, sprinkled with strings, choirs, and voice-acting clips courtesy of comedian pals Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo, and more. Where’s My Utopia? is a communal four-way effort built on chemistry, familiarity and the trust to challenge and push each other creatively. “The main reason that ‘post-punk’ was the vehicle for Album One was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it,” James explains.
It’s a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes. This dueling sense of responsibility and ambition, guilt, love, drive and everything in between forms the narrative backbone of Where’s My Utopia?, Yard Act’s brilliantly exploratory second album. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” Smith suggests. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”
Next year, Yard Act will embark on a tour of North America, Europe and the UK, including a hometown headline show at the 5,750 capacity Millennium Square Leeds. A full list of tour dates is below, and tickets are on sale now.
Wed. Mar. 13 – Norwich, UK @ The Nick Rayns LCR (UEA) Thu. Mar. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Fri. Mar. 15 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Sat. Mar. 16 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Sun. Mar. 17 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria University Tue. Mar. 19 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall Wed. Mar. 20 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street Fri. Mar. 22 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Sat. Mar. 23 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Mon. Mar. 25 – Brighton, UK @ The Dome Wed. Mar. 27 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo Thu. Apr. 4 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux Fri. Apr. 5 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage Sat. Apr. 6 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Mon. Apr. 8 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV Tue. Apr. 9 – Madrid, ES @ Mon Thu. Apr. 11 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2 Fri. Apr. 12 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur Sat. Apr. 13 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club Sun. Apr. 14 – Milan, IT @ Santeria Toscana 31 Tue. Apr. 16 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte Wed. Apr. 17 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle Thu. Apr. 18 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Sat. Apr. 20 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan Wed. Apr. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich Thu. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Main Hall Fri. Apr. 26 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje Sat. Apr. 27 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine Sun. Apr. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique Thu. May 30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern Fri. May 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater Sat. Jun. 1 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s Mon. Jun. 3 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium Tue. Jun. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Thu. Jun. 6 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Fri. Jun. 7 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre Sat. Jun. 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Sat. Aug. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Millenium Square
Leeds quartet Yard Act announce their new album, Where’s My Utopia?, out March 1st on Republic Records, and present its lead single/video, “Dream Job.” Co-produced by Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr., Where’s My Utopia? follows the band’s debut, 2022’s The Overload, and this year’s much-lauded single “The Trench Coat Museum.” Additionally, Yard Act unveil a 2024 tour of North America, Europe and the UK (including a hometown headline show at the 5,750 capacity Millennium Square Leeds). A full list of tour dates is below, including the November US run just around the corner. West Coast Summer 2024 dates go on sale Oct. 27th at 10am local time and all other shows are on sale now.
Since the release of The Overload, “a debut album bursting with character” (Uncut), Yard Act – frontman and vocalist James Smith, bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell — have become one of the most exciting indie success stories of this decade. They’ve ticked off previously unimaginable milestones ranging from landing at Number Two on the UK charts, UK (Later … with Jools Holland) and US (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) television debuts, being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, and a co-sign from Elton John who joined the band to guest on a reworking of The Overload album closer, “100% Endurance.” They’ve spent the past two years traversing the globe, playing festivals from Tokyo to Texas, and selling out tour after tour along the way.
While the band’s trajectory continued to shoot upwards, and the brotherly bond between the four band members strengthened, Smith and his wife welcomed their first child. This dueling sense of responsibility and ambition, guilt, love, drive and everything in between forms the narrative backbone of Yard Act’s brilliantly exploratory second album, Where’s My Utopia?
Lead single, “Dream Job,” “feels like an apt introduction to the themes explored on Where’s My Utopia? — though not all encompassing,” comments Smith. “In part, I was scrutinizing and mocking myself for being a moaning ungrateful little brat, whilst also trying to address how the music industry is this rather uncontrollable beast that hurtles forward unthinkingly and every single person involved in it plays their part. Myself included, obviously. As with pretty much everything else going through my head last year, trying to find the right time to articulate the complexity of emotions I was feeling and the severity to which I was feeling them couldn’t be found – or accommodated, so instead I tried to capture it in a pop song that lasts less than three minutes once the fog had cleared a bit. It’s good and bad. I’m still glad that everything that happened to me happened.”
The song is wryly upbeat, and lands like The Blockheads doing “Club Tropicana” — a not entirely believable thumbs up from the trenches. The “Dream Job” video was directed by James Slater, marking the band and director’s 7th collaboration (“with many more to come”).
Written in snapshots of time in the midst of touring, Where’s My Utopia? is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters, sprinkled with strings, choirs, and voice-acting clips courtesy of comedian pals Nish Kumar, Rose Matafeo, and more. It was a communal four-way effort built on chemistry, familiarity and the trust to challenge and push each other creatively. “The main reason that ‘post-punk’ was the vehicle for Album One was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it,” James explains. Across the record, influences range from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash “Groovejet.”
It’s a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” he suggests. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”
Yard Act Tour Dates Thu. Nov. 2 – Reykjavik, IS @ Iceland Airwaves Sat. Nov. 4 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw Sun. Nov. 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Mon. Nov. 6 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar Tue. Nov. 7 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall Thu. Nov. 9 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement East Fri. Nov. 10 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl Sat. Nov. 11 – New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre Tue. Nov. 14 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk Wed. Nov. 15 – Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Company Fri. Nov. 17 – Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Festival Sat. Dec. 2 – Bangkok, TH @ Maho Rasop Festival Sun. Dec. 3 – Hong Kong, HK @ Clockenflap Festival Tue. Dec. 5 – Osaka, JP @ Shangri-la Thu. Dec. 7 – Tokyo, JP @ Club Quattro Wed. Mar. 13 – Norwich, UK @ The Nick Rayns LCR (UEA) Thu. Mar. 14 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Fri. Mar. 15 – Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Sat. Mar. 16 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Sun. Mar. 17 – Newcastle, UK @ Northumbria University Tue. Mar. 19 – Belfast, UK @ Mandela Hall Wed. Mar. 20 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street Fri. Mar. 22 – Liverpool, UK @ Invisible Wind Factory Sat. Mar. 23 – Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Mon. Mar. 25 – Brighton, UK @ The Dome Wed. Mar. 27 – London, UK @ Eventim Apollo Thu. Apr. 4 – Nantes, FR @ Stereolux Fri. Apr. 5 – Paris, FR @ Cabaret Sauvage Sat. Apr. 6 – Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey Mon. Apr. 8 – Lisbon, PT @ LAV Tue. Apr. 9 – Madrid, ES @ Mon Thu. Apr. 11 – Barcelona, ES @ La 2 Fri. Apr. 12 – Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur Sat. Apr. 13 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club Sun. Apr. 14 – Milan, IT @ Santeria Toscana 31 Tue. Apr. 16 – Zurich, CH @ Mascotte Wed. Apr. 17 – Munich, DE @ Muffathalle Thu. Apr. 18 – Berlin, DE @ Festsaal Kreuzberg Sat. Apr. 20 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan Wed. Apr. 24 – Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich Thu. Apr. 25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Main Hall Fri. Apr. 26 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje Sat. Apr. 27 – Cologne, DE @ Kantine Sun. Apr. 28 – Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique Thu. May 30 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern Fri. May 31 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent Theater Sat. Jun. 1 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s Mon. Jun. 3 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Atrium Tue. Jun. 4 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Thu. Jun. 6 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Fri. Jun. 7 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre Sat. Jun. 8 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Sat. Aug. 3 – Leeds, UK @ Millenium Square
Here we are at the top five albums I reviewed in 2022. It was a great year for music, and these are what stood out for me among all the good stuff out there.
As I’ve mentioned before, 2022 was a great year for electronic music, and this EP from Jacques Greene topped my list of that kind of music. It mixes house, drum and bass, ambient, and a bit of synth wave into a luscious brew.
This reissue of classic gospel funk tracks by The Staples Jr. Singers is stunning. The amount of groove and friskiness in these songs is almost overwhelming. The instrumentation and harmonizing are outstanding, and there’s enough soul for two churches.
This is the best post-punk album I heard all year. Everything on it is razor sharp: the wit, the guitar angles, the grooves, the drum sounds, and the slightly snarled tongue-in-cheek vocals.
The Black Angels‘ new album was a great return for them. It explores the stress of modern times through walls of distorted guitars, reverb-laden vocals, powerful drums, and mind-warping sound. The Black Angels have yet to put out a bad record, but this one somehow set the bar even higher for psych-bands to follow.
#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – See Through You
A Place to Bury Strangers came back with a new lineup and some of Oliver Ackermann‘s most revealing lyrics about the end of friendships, loneliness, grief, over-reliance on technology, and the overall anxiety everyone’s been feeling since 2019. Ackermann put it all out there and walloped us with more honesty and distortion that you can almost stand.
Coming out of the 2022 gate with strong chops and wit, Yard Act‘s The Overload has already set the bar high for post-punk albums (and ones in other genres, for that matter) to come.
The title track opens the record with a breakneck dance bass riff from Ryan Needham while lead singer James Smith sings about “The overload of discontent…The constant burden of making sense. It won’t relent.” Good grief, is he right. “Dead Horse” is a punch at Brexit and racism in England (“England, my heart bleeds. Why’d you abandon me? Yeah, I abandoned you, too, but we both know I wasn’t the one lied to, and I’m not scared of people who don’t look like me, unlike you.”)
“Payday” and “Rich” are a nice double-punch, both with crunchy guitar by Sam Shjipstone. “Payday” is all about getting rich on the efforts of others and getting away with it. “Rich” is a witty track about how wealth often brings misery and / or desire to become richer despite having everything you need.
“The Incident” seems to have Smith, Needham, Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell almost each playing their own song, but it somehow works and produces a funny tune about the different set of rules for CEOs and VIPs, even though their reputation and worth is built on illusions (“We’ve created rules that you can’t find in the book, a different type of prison for a different type of crook. Ever since the incident, my complete incompetence has been exposed to everyone and rendered me irrelevant.”)
“Witness (Can I Get a?)” is a fun punk riff on trying to get people to agree with whatever you’re yelling about at the time. “Land of the Blind” is a song about graft played with beats great for walking your dog, strutting to the ring, or working the catwalk. “Quarantine the Sticks” takes on both bad police and corporate practices. It reminds me of some of Sleaford Mods‘ stuff in its delivery and message.
“Tall Poppies” might have the hardest-hitting lyrics on the entire record as Smith spins a tale of a good joe who has a decent life and dies in his nice home, knowing he had a good run. It’s an allegory for everyone trying to make do with the hand they’ve been dealt and make the world a bit better in their own way (“We cry because children are dying across the sea, and there is nothing we can do about it. Whilst we benefit from the bombs they dropped, which we had no part in building. We are sorry, truly we are sorry. We are just trying to get by, too.”)
“Pour Another” has some of Russell’s coolest beats while Smith sings about pals kicking back with a few pints while the world burns around them. “100% Endurance” has Smith telling all of us to tell everyone we love that we love them and all of us have the means within to be happy (“Everything has already happened. Time is an illusion. It’s hippie bullshit, but it’s true.”)
A neat thing about The Overload is that it doesn’t overload you. It delivers all the goods, yes, and plenty of bite and beats, but it doesn’t hammer you over the head or try so hard that Yard Act become self-parodies or annoying. In other words, they crafted a damn fine album.
The buzzing Leeds band Yard Act are preparing to release their highly anticipate debut The Overload later this month (Jan 21st) via Island Records and their own imprint Zen F.C., and today they are sharing their final single from the album, a track called “Rich.” The album arrives following a banner year for the band, and the excitement around them has continued to heat up at the start of 2022. Following a late 2021 appearance on Later…w/ Jools Holland, Elton John called Yard Act one of his favorite new bands in an NME feature (he described their sound as “a different ball game“), the band were named an NPR Slingshot artists for 2022 with NPR proclaiming that “Yard Act will be 2022’s breakthrough English post-punk act“, saw features in Rolling Stone and The Guardian, and their album has received some glowing early reviews including 5* reviews from Rolling Stone UK and DIY Magazine, 4.5* stars from Uncut, 4* and the coveted album of the month award from MOJO.
Speaking about the new track, which follows the November single “Payday“, frontman James Smith explains: “‘Rich’ is the natural successor to ‘Payday’. That’s the end of the story right? Success! Status! Security! Except, there’s always more money to be made, and you’re deemed a failure if your life starts to head back in the direction it came from. It’s about being so lost you’re sure you know exactly where you are and how you got there. I also wrote it because I thought it would be quite funny if Yard Act made a shit ton of money after I’d written an anti-capitalist concept album. It’ll be funny if I’m singing this song on stage when I’ve made my mint.”
He elaborates: “At worst it makes no sense, at best it comes off as pretentious, but that’s the point I’m trying to make when I write anything really. Things only really make sense if you exclude the bits that don’t back up the point you’re trying to make. I’m a hypocrite just like everyone else. I don’t have the answers and I’m just trying to do the best I can. It’ll never be good enough though. Enjoy the ride, life is short and you never know what’s round the corner.”
The accompanying video is the band’s fourth collaboration with director James Slater and his production team, following ‘The Overload’, ‘Land Of The Blind’, and ‘Payday’ and further develops the world Yard Act have created and the characters that exist within it.
Excitement just keeps building behind the Leeds band Yard Act ahead of the release debut LP, The Overload,which is due out via Island Records and their own imprint Zen F.C. on the recently revised release date of January 21st. The album follows a collection of early singles released in 2020 and early 2021, that immediately caught on in their home country, earning accolades from outlets like The Guardian, NME and Loud & Quiet, and creating a stir in the US, earning praise from outlets like NPR, Stereogum, Paste and Under The Radar, who designated them a band to watch in 2021. The band’s hot streak has continued apace, recently garnering the support of high profile fans in Elton John and Cillian Murphy, selling out a run of shows, appearing on the soundtrack to the latest FIFA game, and performing their album’s title track on Later…w/ Jools Holland.
Following on the heels of “The Land of The Blind,” the band are sharing a new track and video “Payday”.
Speaking about the new single, Smith explains: “‘Payday’ was one of the few tracks on the record we had to rebuild completely in the studio because the first demo was recorded on my computer and the hard drive corrupted. We spent about TWO hours trying to figure out that stupid keyboard part I’d put on it and couldn’t remember how to play. It was boring but worth it. It’s about gentrification, class fetish and how the human brain is so powerful that with enough time and processing power combined it will be able to justify, defend and/or continue to commit the actions of any human being it controls.”
The accompanying video is the band’s third collaboration with director James Slater and his production team, following “The Overload” and “Land Of The Blind”, and further develops the world Yard Act have created and the characters that exist within it. Smith says: “We wanted to do something less location and narrative based for this video, so an infinity white studio served as the perfect purgatory for an anti capitalist anthem funded by a major record label. It was great to get Kayleigh from ‘The Overload’ car boot shoot back with her friends, and they choreographed a brilliant dance routine for it themselves, which really brings the video to life. It’s also nice to finally be able to explain all the lettuces that kept cropping up in the previous videos.”
