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Oct 25, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Phoebe Fox

British post-punk band Yard Act have announced a new album, Where’s My Utopia?, and shared a new song from it, “Dream Job,” via a music video. They have also announced some 2024 tour dates. Where’s My Utopia? is due out March 1, 2024 via Republic. Regular Yard Act collaborator James Slater directed the “Dream Job” video. Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Where’s My Utopia? is Yard Act’s second album, the follow-up to their acclaimed Mercury Prize-nominated debut album, 2022’s The Overload.

Where’s My Utopia? includes “The Trench Coat Museum,” a new eight-minute song the band shared in July that landed at #1 on our Songs of the Week list.

Like that song, “Dream Job” is less post-punk and more finds the band embracing an upbeat dance-rock vibe. It’s something frontman James Smith says carries across the whole album.

“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,” he explains in a press release.

The press release lists Fela Kuti, Ennio Moricone, and Spiller’s 2000-released single “Groovejet” as influences on the new album. Remi Kabaka Jr. of Gorillaz co-produced the album with Yard Act. The band also features bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell.

Smith says that “Dream Job” “feels like an apt introduction to the themes explored on Where’s My Utopia?—though not all encompassing. 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.”

For the new album, Smith says he has reached deeper inside himself for lyrical inspiration, relying less on the character studies that populated the songs on The Overload. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” he says. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”

Read our print magazine interview with Yard Act on The Overload.

Read our rave 9/10 review of The Overload.

Where’s My Utopia? Tracklist:

1. An Illusion
2. We Make Hits
3. Down By The Stream
4. The Undertow
5. Dream Job
6. Fizzy Fish
7. Petroleum
8. When The Laughter Stops (ft. Katy J Pearson)
9. Grifter’s Grief
10. Blackpool Illuminations
11. A Vineyard for the North

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

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