Leeds four-piece Yard Act made one of 2022’s most assured debuts in The Overload, although its debt to the Fall was hard to ignore, in terms of both its post-punk dynamics and frontman James Smith’s delivery. His sprechgesang vocals still take centre stage, but this time his lyrics are more self-reflective, most notably on Down By the Stream, an arresting rumination on his past as a school bully: “I was young, but more so I was wrong.” Elsewhere, The Undertow examines the trade-off between time spent with his band and with his young family; Blackpool Illuminations finds him recounting a childhood accident to a psychiatrist, although there’s the suspicion that unreliable narration may play a part.
Musically, meanwhile, Where’s My Utopia? marks a huge leap forward, with co-producer Remi Kabaka Jr of Gorillaz helping to realise soaring ambitions – witness the forays into disco, the backing vocalists on A Vineyard for the North, David Thewlis reciting Macbeth, the flashes of orchestration. There’s a joyous richness here, Petroleum in particular echoing the maximalist sensory overload of Odelay-era Beck, with so much going on that something new strikes you with each listen.
