What you need to know:
Yard Act is back with Where’s My Utopia?, an excellent second album that finds them experimenting with their sound and laughing at current society.
Yard Actthe fascinating band from Leeds who surprised us with their wonderful debut album in 2022 The overloadpresents us the follow-up his special vision of a decadent, ironic world in absolute crisis Where is my utopia?his second album (We tell you more about the group on this page).
His sense of humor is strangely hopeful, and they repeat this to us over and over again In the face of global tragedy, perhaps all we need to do is dance and hear some good guitars and sarcastic lyrics. For this album, the quartet collaborates with Remi Kabaka Jr. (Gorillaz, Bobby Womack) on production and that is clearly felt throughout the album There are more synthesizers and even danceable bass lines, which is a contrasting surprise for a fairly fatalistic band..
Yard Act’s combination of genres makes us pay attention to every second of the albumand although rock is still the constant, andIt’s amazing what they’ve incorporated into this album material.
Yard Act retains its essence with a mesmerizing production
The opener “An Illusion” already suggests that the band sets high standards for themselves and is now venturing into other genres, which can even be combined in a single role. This song adds backing vocals, a kind of relaxed jazz in the verses and even orchestral strings. It’s no surprise that Remi Kabaka Jr. was on board for this Yard Act album.
The production is a collage that now exists scratch DJ on the decks and You have to listen to the album several times to notice some of the details.. For “Down by the stream,” A bass line from Ryan Needham forms the basis for a crazy theme with strings sampling and we even hear a subtle saxophone in the background.
The minimalist post-punk with just guitar and bass now brings many elements that support Yard Act’s music. Just when you think something is going to be as simple and direct as the songs on their debut album, We are surprised by the inclusion of new percussion instruments, choirs and strings. There are quite a few insertions of verses spoken by people other than James Smith.
Post-punk meets disco
Yard Act has become more danceable Where is my utopia? and great songs like “We Make Hits” and the hilarious “Dream Job” show that You don’t have to do everything in intense or dark rock, but social satire is perhaps more inflammatory if it happens in songs that can make your audience dance.
The texts about working life, the fears and anxieties of life in society and the little meaning that everything makes, now become a frontal comedy and not so much a tragedyas it was said in a first album that required a lot more reading between the lines to realize it was a hidden mockery.
Despite such direct references Other songs on this Yard Act album soon feature synthesizer progressions that invite you to movelike in “The Undertow”, brilliantly produced, with string sequences reminiscent of disco music.
With “Blackpool Illuminations,” which James says is the most important song on the album, the band even went into Afrobeat. This is what the role change shows us Yard Act looks for the possibilities within a role to push it to its limits.
This rap about the singer’s personal life is extremely profound and liberating He himself admits that he is not looking for a utopia, but rather building his own. Here you can see the influence of Kabaka Jr., who also played drums in Gorillaz and is a percussion genius.
Cynical but fascinating stories
Since his debut The Yard Act presented us with characters and situations that could be related to our circumstances, and they also spice it up with comedy, which gives them a lot of identity as a band. In detail: Their videos are linked together and present parallel stories to the lyrics about the pursuit of a mysterious woman who is not part of the band.
The dose is repeated for this second album, but We notice that the album is more sped up than its predecessor and the contrast with the lyrics becomes clearer when they tell stories about the gray everyday life. of office and impending death in dance songs like “Trench Coat Museum” and “Dream Job.”
Already as a band that attracted the world, James talks about personal struggles and the exhaustion of being on tour and having to play to audiences night after night.. This was recorded in “Petroleum”., which, in addition to a catchy chorus, also contains intense lyrics about achieving your dreams but paying a price for it.
The intense “Grifter’s Grief” Find James He talks about how difficult it is for him to accept that he has to travel around the world by plane while the world is burning. Her father told her that she had to do this in order to work, even though Taylor Swift and other celebrities who spend their time polluting the environment don’t seem to be too worried about it.
Where is my utopia? It’s rare that the promising band delivers a very good second albumand instead of disappointing, it surprises us with every release. By exploring their ideas and expanding their sonic palette, they remain committed to their vision of the world and we can only continue to develop this album and wait for his first solo exhibition in our country next October 19th at the Foro Puebla.
Yard Act released several physical editions of the album, including cassettes and vinyl. In fact, there is an edition where the cover can be customized with stickers and even features art signed by them. Everything is now available via the group’s website (we’ll leave it here) and on this page you can find tickets for their presentation in CDMX.