Label: Island
Released: 21st January 2022
Rating: ★★★★★
On paper, Yard Act would probably sound a bit rubbish. A clattering, post-punk indie rattle – part band, part performance art – often performed through the prism of characters who feel in some way objectionable; it’s certainly not cookie-cutter stuff.
On record, though, it’s fucking fantastic. Acerbic, immediate, playful and sharp, ‘The Overload’ is whip-smart but never pretentious with it. On the strength of their earliest soundings, one could be forgiven for worrying they had one trick that would run cold across a full-length, but again, that’s painfully wide of the mark in practice. A collection of vignettes – a running narrative of one-liners and challenging ideas – it’s an album of depth and consideration.
Yard Act might not be like the other bands, but that only makes them all the more essential.
