Where’s My UTopia? – Yard Act

By Ben Bagley

Rating: 7/10

Stand-out track: ‘We Make Hits’

For fans of: The Fall, Pulp, Wet Leg, Fontaines D.C.

“We just wanna have some fun before we’re sunk,” a clear statement of light-hearted intent from Yard Act’s frontman James Smith on their second full-length instalment Where’s My Utopia?.

The band made quite a splash with their 2022 debut album, The Overload, a refreshing addition to the UK’s post-punk revival scene, uniting jagged guitar lines with sprechgesang delivery. Their second outing sees the band develop their sound and offer more lyrical introspection from the matured yet still effortlessly witty Smith.

Yard Act teamed up with Gorillaz producer Remi Kabaka Jr. for Where’s My Utopia?. No surprise then that the album’s instrumentation is much richer than on their more minimalist debut. Keys, strings, and horns are sporadically incorporated, expanding the band’s previously traditional post-punk sound. There are also forays into uncharted genres like the irresistibly groovy ‘Dream Job’ and synth-lead ‘A Vineyard for the North’. Although intriguing, this scattergun stylistic approach leaves some tracks distinctly out of place, like ‘Grifter’s Grief’, which falls somewhat flat.

A particular highlight of the eleven-track album is single ‘We Make Hits’, a meta reflection on the band’s genesis in 2019. “And there was one singular ambition we had / That most musicians of our ilk aren’t willing to admit,” frontman James Smith confesses unabashedly to the band’s hit-making desire. The catchy three-minute song signs off with tongue-in-cheek remark “And if it’s not a hit we were being ironic,” as if we were in any doubt as to how seriously the four-piece takes itself.

References to the mundane — Milton Keynes, Calpol, and retro confectionery Fizzy Fish — are thrown in to take the edge off some of the more earnest lyrical explorations. On ‘Down by the Stream’, we are introduced Jono Steadman, Connor Cartwright, Doug Duggan, and Peter’s cousin Dean, all characters that wouldn’t be out of place in a Bob Mortimer anecdote on Would I Lie to You?. Lyrical tomfoolery paired with Smith’s dulcet Yorkshire tones makes comparisons to Britpop ace Jarvis Cocker hard to avoid.

The closest we get to a traditional pop hit on the record is ‘When the Laughter Stops’ featuring Katy J. Pearson, who provides melodic respite in the choruses, singing over a guitar-lick lifted straight from TikTok sensation ‘Music Sounds Better With You’. Whether a wry nod to modern pop or an unintentional rip-off, the catchiness of the tune is in no doubt. David Thewlis features on the same track, reciting a passage from Macbeth, although this cameo seems more of a gimmick than anything else.

The album’s penultimate track ‘Blackpool Illuminations’ sees the Smith at his most vulnerable, recounting a bloody incident on a family holiday. “I think at that age you’re most in love with your parents,” the 31-year-old reminisces. His experience as the father of a young child no doubt influenced much of the self-reflection on this record, as he turns his attention to parenthood on ‘The Undertow’. “I made that decision for us / What’s the guilt worth if you do nothing with it,” he considers the constant emotional struggle balancing the commitments of raising a child whilst being in a successful band.

The refreshing development of Yard Act’s sound on Where’s My Utopia? and the soul-baring storytelling are certainly enough to quench the nation’s seemingly insatiable thirst for new indie bands, for the time being at least. Although imperfect, there is certainly no danger of Yard Act sinking any time soon.