Yard Act | Critically acclaimed debut album The Overload out today

Leeds outfit Yard Act today released their critically acclaimed debut album The Overload on Zen F.C. / Island. The Overload is available HERE.

The record has been subject of stellar reviews across the board in national media with Album of the week accolades from The Guardian, The Telegraph (both 4*) and The Sunday Times coinciding with high scoring write-ups from DIY, Rolling Stone, Dork, The Forty Five (all 5*), Uncut, The Line Of Best Fit (both 4 12 *), MOJO, The Times, NME, Gigwise (all 4*) and more.

Despite only releasing their debut single ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ in 2020, Yard Act have made a sensational impact, invigorating and revitalising the UK’s new bands scene in the process. Alongside landing on the BBC Sound Of 2022 longlist this month, Yard Act also featured on the cover of DIY Magazine’s Class of 2022 issue, the current cover of So Young Magazine and were NME’s Big Read cover last Friday.

On Monday this week, Yard Act served up the Hottest Record in the World on BBC Radio 1’s Future Sounds with Clara Amfo and shared their cover of ‘Tiny Dancer’, which was given the blessing of fan Sir Elton John himself who praised their version of one of his most notoriously difficult songs to master in a personal telephone call to frontman James Smith.

Yard Act rounded off 2021 with a string of fully sold-out headline shows on their first ever UK tour - earning accolades such as The Observer’s Artist Of The Week (4*) and a perfect 5* review in The Times along the way. Having already sold out their entire February and March tour and the subsequent run in May, Yard Act have shared details of a November tour taking in their biggest rooms to date. Tickets for all Yard Act headline shows and in-stores are available HERE.

Singles from the album ‘The Overload’ and ‘Payday’ have been heavily supported across UK radio by the likes of BBC 6 Music (both singles were A-Listed), Radio 1 (where ‘The Overload’ was crowned the Introducing Tune Of The Week and received daytime airplay from everyone from Greg James to Arielle Free), and John Kennedy at Radio X (who featured ‘Payday’ as a Hot One on the X-Posure show). The band also made their UK television debut in November, performing the album’s title track and lead single on Later... with Jools Holland (watch HERE).

Spanning 11 entirely new tracks, The Overload is a record which rages with Yard Act’s inimitable wit, musical dexterity and tasteful curation. Littered with Yard Act’s signature dark humour and knowing cynicism, The Overload pokes fun at society without ever punching down from a place of superiority. “Lyrically, I think it’s a record about the things that we all do - we're all so wired into the system of day to day that we don't really stop and think about the constructs that define us,” says Smith. “But also beyond that, it's kind of exciting, because there’s still so much we don’t understand; how a hive mindset is forged, how information spreads, how we agree and presume things without thinking. Some people think more than others, but a lot of this sloganeering - ‘I'm on the left, I'm not wrong’ - doesn't achieve anything. Gammons, Karens, Snowflakes, whatever – I find it all so boring. I'm just not into that.”

Spearheaded by James Smith (vocals) and Ryan Needham (bass), the now four-piece, completed by Sam Shjipstone (guitar) and Jay Russell (drums), have built a sound that speaks inherently to their birthplace of Leeds, West Yorkshire, and yet ties together observations from all walks of modern British life – the small-town bloke in the local pub, the anti-capitalist stuck at a desk job, the tired activist in all of us torn between easy complicity and the desire to fight.

Having grown from relatively casual pub acquaintances to housemates, Smith and Needham found living together to be conducive to a high work rate, racking up demos in quick succession. Settling into a system of programming, looping and layering, the alchemy between the two created a base from which to build their narrative world. “Ryan is a vibe guy, whereas I overthink everything,” laughs Smith. “It’s been the greatest creative partnership I've ever had. When you find a groove that works, it just kind of looks after itself.”

With just three hometown shows under their belt, world events intervened. But rather than letting the pandemic derail them Yard Act set up their own imprint, Zen F.C. and across the course of 2020 and into early 2021 released four increasingly coruscating, hilariously dark singles with ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’, ‘Fixer Upper’, ‘Peanuts’ and Dark Days’ all securing BBC 6 Music airplay, and despite the circumstances developing a remarkable, ever increasing fanbase.

Pulling off a debut album in a pandemic isn’t easy, but somehow, Yard Act have made it work. Recording with Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding) at his Bristol studio, those prolific demos have been sharpened down into something that speaks to the times we live in, creating a statement of intent that survives on nuance – a record of retro influences, recorded in a modern way. The Overload is a political record, but in the same way that all great observations of human nature are – a messy, complex, knowingly hypocritical snapshot of our current state of play.

See Yard Act live in 2022:

• 20 Jan Actions records, Preston, UK 6pm
• 21 Jan Rough Trade East, London, UK 12pm
• 21 Jan Rough Trade East, London, UK 6pm – SOLD OUT
• 22 Jan Sister Ray / 100 Club Outstore 12pm
• 22 Jan Pryzm, Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK 8pm
• 23 Jan Pie and Vinyl Instore, Southsea, UK 1pm
• 23 Jan Resident Music Instore, Brighton, UK 6pm – SOLD OUT
• 24 Jan Truck Music Store, Oxford, UK 1pm
• 24 Jan Rough Trade, Bristol, UK, 6:30PM – SOLD OUT
• 27 Jan Rough Trade, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
• 1 Feb Independent Venue Week @ Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds UK
• 3 Feb Trix, Borgerhout, BE
• 17 Feb Village Underground, London, UK – SOLD OUT
• 18 Feb Patterns, Brighton, UK – SOLD OUT
• 19 Feb The Joiners, Southampton, UK – SOLD OUT
• 21 Feb Exchange, Bristol, UK – SOLD OUT
• 22 Feb Clwb Ifor Bach, UK Cardiff – SOLD OUT
• 23 Feb Bodega Social, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
• 24 Feb The White Hotel, Salford, UK – SOLD OUT
• 25 Feb The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, UK – SOLD OUT
• 26 Feb Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
• 1 Mar The Cluny, Newcastle, UK – SOLD OUT
• 2 Mar The Caves, Edinburgh – SOLD OUT
• 3 Mar Mono, Glasgow, UK – SOLD OUT
• 4 Mar Whelans, Dublin, IE – SOLD OUT
• 14 Mar – 20 Mar SXSW, Austin, US
• 22 Mar Union Pool, Brooklyn, US – SOLD OUT
• 23 Mar Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, US
• 24 Mar TV Eye, Queens, US
• 25 Mar The Sinclair, Boston, US
• 27 Mar The Garrison, Toronto, CA
• 29 Mar Sleeping Village, Chicago, US
• 5 Apr Earth, London, UK
• 15 Apr The Casbah, San Diego, US
• 16 Apr Coachella Festival, Indio, US
• 18 Apr The Crocodile, Seattle, US
• 19 Apr Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, US
• 21 Apr Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, US
• 23 Apr Coachella Festival, Indio, US
• 30 Apr Liverpool Sound City, UK
• 11 May Trinity, Bristol, UK – SOLD OUT
• 18 May Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
• 19 May Zanzibar, Liverpool – SOLD OUT
• 20 May Irish Centre, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
• 21 May Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – SOLD OUT
• 22 May The Foundry, Sheffield, UK – SOLD OUT
• 26 May O2 Academy, Leicester, UK
• 27 May Arts Centre, Norwich – SOLD OUT
• 28 May Wide Awake Festival, London
• 22 Jul Truck Festival, Oxford, UK
• 24 Jul Tramlines, Sheffield, UK
• 29 Jul Deer Shed, Thirsk UK
• 30 Jul Ynot Festival, Derbyshire, UK
• 5-7 Aug Off Festival, Katowice, PL
• 9-13 Aug Oya Festival, Oslo, NO
• 22 Nov Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, UK
• 23 Nov NUSU, Newcastle, UK
• 24 Nov O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
• 25 Nov O2 Ritz, Manchester, UK
• 26 Nov Marble Factory, Bristol, UK
• 27 Nov Tramshed, Cardiff, UK
• 29 Nov 1865, Southampton, UK
• 30 Nov Chalk, Brighton, UK