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Mar 01, 2024 Web Exclusive By Michael James Hall

Leeds, England’s poetic post-punkers Yard Act tasted tremendous success and acclaim with their 2022-released debut album, The Overload. Their often funny, catchy, funk-infused social commentary proved a welcome, if dark hued, tonic for post-lockdown Britain. Anchored by bassist Ryan Needham and given flight by singer James Smith, the band turn their sights inward on their second record, Where’s My Utopia?

It’s a very, very ambitious record, which is to be applauded. With a bigger budget, as well as a broader sweep of influences and instrumentation, this yields mixed but often interesting results. Between the tape warps, the relentless spoken word intervals, reverse loops, and strings it starts to feel overwhelming. Perhaps that’s the point.

The crafty hooks that made their debut a sensation are infiltrated by a cartload of musical color, a thousand ideas springing out from the speakers, realized in multitudinous, but sometimes ineffective, ways: Smith aptly cheers the joy of invention and creation, the title chanted in a huge holler of “We Make Hits” followed amusingly by, “but not like Nile Rodgers, just that we ain’t hook dodgers.”

The funk-punk basics, driven by rhythm section Needham and Jay Russell are enough to hold down the songs in the face of this extravagance, particularly on the stirring “An Illusion” and the brilliantly abrasive, absurdist “Fizzy Fish.”

Smith’s lyrics, half-spoke, half-sung, and largely reflecting on the shaky territory of the band’s new-found fame, can be wonderful. “Blackpool Illuminations” is a lengthy, conversational reminiscence that shifts seamlessly into hypnotic staccato poetry: “my beautiful family and my dream job, no longer a dream.” This is taken further on “Dream Job,” where he asks “it’s ace…why can’t we travel in business class?” and offers “Step into my office / All night long” as the tune evolves into a pure ’80s dance hit. “Grifter’s Grief” and the superb “When the Laughter Stops” mine similar lyrical territory, though darker, less tempered with wit.

The grimness of “The Undertow,” where Smith asks, “What’s the guilt worth if you choose when you feel it?” over a gratifying shake of disco beats is ramped up on the bittersweet closer, “A Vineyard for the North,” where Smith tries hopelessly to see a bright side to global warming before concluding, “I’m quitting the band / I want to buy a few acres / Live off the fat of the land.” It’s funny, truly sad stuff.

Where’s My Utopia? is an album that overflows, both in excess and excellence, with the former sometimes costing the latter its due. The last word, though should go to Smith, on “Blackpool Illuminations”: “I attained perfection / So why the fuck was I wondering what wankers would think of album two?” (www.yardactors.com)

Author rating: 8/10