“I attained perfection / So why the fuck was I nonetheless questioning what wankers would consider album two?” murmurs James Smith, Yard Act’s inimitable frontman. It’s the concluding comment on ‘Blackpool Illuminations’, a seven-minute spoken-word story that vividly recounts journeys to the seaside city together with his dad and mom, finally juxtaposed in opposition to these together with his personal youngster. Certainly, this “perfection” he refers to isn’t their Quantity Two debut album ‘The Overload’ (2022), however his son, born in amongst the pandemonium of Yard Act’s sharp rise to fame.
Musings on fatherhood and his relationship together with his people (“I feel you’re most in love together with your dad and mom”) are resemblant of a modified Smith, who concurrently wrestles with the trials and tribulations of their success on ‘The place’s My Utopia?’, the Leeds quartet’s second album. Its aim was to merely make sense of their newfound standing, plucked from spare moments amidst their record-breaking, relentless touring schedule. At all times destined to outgrow the shallow ‘post-punk’ label, the band flex their inventive muscle groups on the eclectic 11-song assortment that tears down the very idea of style.
Ever ones to poke enjoyable at themselves, Smith wastes no time doing so (“Put up-punk’s newest poster boys”) on ‘We Make Hits’, a monitor that re-affirms their underlying motivation: 4 brothers who relish their shared songwriting expertise: “We simply wanna have some enjoyable earlier than we’re sunk.” The clearest instance of that is lead single ‘Dream Job’, which finds its place because the document’s unintentional get together quantity. It’s removed from an open-top bus parade, although Smith smiles and waves in superlatives, concurrently taking a dig on the “recreation” Yard Act proceed to navigate their approach by: “I place a wager on a recreation figuring out nobody will rating”. As they just lately famous to The Occasions: “We’ve hit the massive time however we nonetheless can’t afford a home”.
Co-produced by Remi Kakaba Jr of Gorillaz, ‘The place’s My Utopia?’ is sonically playful from the get-go. Tracks like ‘The Undertow’ might have definitely discovered a house on Gorillaz’ 2010 idea album ‘Plastic Seashore’, scurrying between hurried string sections and a throbbing bassline. Gentle shades of disco and art-rock take centre stage on ‘Grifter’s Grief’ and ‘When The Laughter Stops’, the latter of which enlists Katy J Pearson to assist ship the album’s most significant message. As Smith sheds a light-weight on the rut he as soon as discovered himself in (“the sufferer shot lifeless within the chilly open”), we’re reminded of the layer of vulnerability that exists between the zingers.
In between samples from their comedy buddies – standups Nish Kumar and Rose Matafeo – and references to all types of uniquely British phenomena: from ‘Fizzy Fish’ to Calpol and, er, Milton Keynes. The place’s My Utopia?’ marks an outlandish but assertive second chapter for Yard Act, going toe-to-toe with the peculiar world that we discover ourselves in.
Particulars
- Launch date: March 1, 2024
- File label: Island
