Emerging from various components of the West Yorkshire DIY music scene, Yard Act frontman James Smith, formerly of Post War Glamour Girls, and Menace Beach ex-bassist Ryan Needham ended up as housemates. This ignited the creative touchpaper between them, leading to the relatively sizable splash generated by banging early Yard Act singles including razor-sharp ‘Fixer Upper’, striking a chord with a whole bunch of new listeners. Part sardonic spoken word vocal in the spirit of Mark E Smith mixed with a dash of Sleaford’s everyday grind provided Yard Act crucial cut through. This was backed up by a stack of enthusiastic airplay, and helped set the quartet’s direction of travel for debut long-player The Overload.
As with many of their peers, the bulk of the material on The Overload came together during the enforced virtual ideation of lockdown, the quartet managing to turn the isolation into an advantage, each component given its own chance to breathe away from the claustrophobia of a band’s rehearsal space. Fortunately, the quality held up throughout the 11 new tracks and it’s no wonder Island Records came knocking to snap them up. Much lauded eponymous opener finds Smith setting the scene like a post-millennial incarnation of Jarvis Cocker, with added cynicism redolent of Johnny from Mike Leigh’s seminal 90s film Naked. The listener is introduced to a darkly comic picture of life in Northern Britain, its populous just about managing with the help of their own choice of escapism; drugs, music, booze, sarcasm, sex, violence…. you name it.
‘Dead Horse’ is a deliciously scathing propulsive tirade at our Sceptered Isle’s inexorable post-millennial shift rightwards into anti-knowledge. The chaotic yet no less danceable ‘Payday’ examines accusations of hypocrisy levelled at well-meaning but wealthy left-leaners, Smith’s words “For you to be both flush and completely principled” reinforcing the suspicion. The politics of envy continues on the jazz-tinged ‘Rich’. Lousy jobs and suspect bosses feature on ‘The Incident’ whereas the sparseness given to ‘Land of the Blind’ confirms the age-old adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world whilst the truth is still putting on its shoes.
The album’s centrepiece ‘Tall Poppies’, provides the one truly sombre moment. Smith’s 6-minute tale of drab small-town existence with a life sadly cut short will touch a nerve with most. Another left turn follows and we’re back at party central on the super catchy ‘Pour Another’. It’s Yard Act’s ‘Girls and Boys’ moment serving as the perfect penultimate pick me up. The final destination ‘100% Endurance’ ensures the listener is brought down gently and you really get a feel for how this pretty handy debut record ebbs and flows before bang! it’s over in an instant.
As ever, The Overload begs the age-old question about working-class performers having to be representatives of where they came from, seemingly denied the freedom afforded to those further up the social ladder to do whatever they want. Whilst that debate rages, feel free to enjoy these cracking tunes.
Words by Michael Price.
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