Where’s My Utopia?
ISLAND
8/10
WHATEVER you say they are, that’s what they’re not. It’s a natural impulse of any band who have experienced sudden acclaim, and the reductive hype that goes with it, to kick hard against it creatively. Sometimes that’s to the point of commercial self-harm.
So when Yard Act’s follow-up to their 2022 debut, the Mercury-nominated, No 2 album The Overload, is peppered with sardonic self-referential asides, you’re immediately struck by the suspicion that this is their stab at leaving every party that would have them as members. The disagreeable second album, if you will.
“”, James”). As if his spiritual uncle and namesake Mark E has been reborn as an acolyte of the Arctic Monkeys, Smith relates, “”.
