Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?

A truly brilliant debut album can cause a seismic shift. Yard Act know that all too well. ‘The Overload’ was masterful, a scathing, razor-edged statement of a band on the verge of cementing themselves as in a league of their own. It is an album that has afforded them a lot – crucially, the confidence and bravery to go on to make an album as good as their new release, ‘Where’s My Utopia?’.

It is an abandoning of any previous guardedness, choosing rawness and intimacy from the get-go, in its self-analytical lyrics and in its clear tendency to follow instincts. This is Yard Act operating with unparalleled authenticity. Grappling with the ways in which their world has transformed post-debut album, Yard Act are empowered to seek answers and discovery in new ways. Sonically, ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ is a gloriously non-conforming exploration of what feels right. Lyrically, the band give space to a complex tapestry of emotions as they look to themselves, the world, the music industry and everything in between.

There are trademark moments of Yard Act throughout, of course – that sardonic delivery is ever-present. Their sonic world expands with every track, though. Opening track ‘An Illusion’ is choral at points, whilst ‘The Undertow’ grapples with love and guilt at being caught in the tide of life to a soundscape of strings and a theatrical, dark build of guitars. The latter seems to completely pull you under, a recurring experience on the album – it’s hard not to get totally immersed in the expert storytelling and artfully layered instrumentation. They play with the listener’s attention, ensnaring you on tracks like ‘Grifter’s Grief’ where moments of pause take you away briefly from the tension, only for the fraught vocals and raucous guitars to hit even harder on their return.

‘We Make Hits’ may be on the cynical side, all neatly packaged with a wink and a nudge, but there’s a free-wheeling joy to it – the infectious, pop-tinged track seems to luxuriate in the fun and enjoyment of its making. A constantly experimenting album like this one can only have been born from that kind of freeing, passionate innovation that Yard Act revel in. There are moments that are filled with humour even amongst the album’s slightly grimmer musings, and it is transformative.

The final two tracks are the icing on the cake for ‘Where’s My Utopia?’. ‘Blackpool Illuminations’ examines memory and reminiscence in a seven-minute spoken word musing on adoration, nostalgia and sincerity, and what we pass on. It’s unlike anything else. The final track, ‘A Vineyard in the North’, is nothing short of spectacular – its outrageously contagious beats shuffle throughout and end the album with a twisted piece of hope. It’s the closing chapter of a tale that acts as a meditation on change and how some things never will. One of those things is the sheer brilliance of Yard Act: it is something that will never wane, and ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ proves that.