Photo Credit: Phoebe Fox
Yard Act have shared “When The Laughter Stops” feat. Katy J Pearson, the final advance preview of their upcoming second album Where’s My Utopia? due out on March 1st.
Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds band’s breakout debut record The Overload, which arrived in January 2022. The Overload was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize after a slew of positive reviews, national radio playlistings, and a placing at #2 on the Official UK Charts. The new album is a co-production between Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr..
Yard Act have announced a huge run of shows in the UK and EU for spring 2024 – including the Eventim Apollo Hammersmith on March 27th and their biggest hometown show to date at the 5,750 capacity Millennium Square Leeds on August 3rd.
“When The Laughter Stops” follows the album’s singles “Dream Job,” “Petroleum,” and “We Make Hits,” with videos for the tracks directed by longtime collaborator James Slater.
One of the first tracks written for the record, Yard Act’s James Smith says of “When The Laughter Stops”: “The sentiment of the lyrics gets to the heart of ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ almost immediately and finds the cynicism first spawned from the same circumstance I found myself in during ‘Dream Job’ now giving way to a more genuine sliver of misery. Fortunately – spoiler alert – I’ve managed to find a way out of this pit, for the time being.”
He continues: “Whilst the lyrics came quick, musically it went through the wringer. As is often the case when Ryan presents a bass line, harmonically it’s pretty ambiguous, and we all hear things differently. I was hearing the song in a pretty bluesy, minor key, whilst Sam [guitarist] heard a very saccharine and sweet major key tune. The song pedalled back and forth, we talked about ‘Lovefool’ by The Cardigans quite a lot if I remember correctly. During a recording session in Kettering with Russ Russell at Parlour Studios in December 2022, I was fucking about on a Roland Juno with the arpeggiator whirring away over the end. Ryan flipped the rate so it went half time and all of a sudden the eeriness of the track made sense; it sounded like some John Carpenter doomsday clock countdown or something. Sam reworked the guitars to sound like ‘High Voltage’ by Electric Six, and we stripped away the funkier percussion and made the rhythm more aggressive, like ‘Seven Nation Army.’ Katy came to meet us at Metropolis in London to dub the chorus vocals, and it gave the whole track a huge lift I’ll never have the voice for. She’s fantastic. I asked David Thewlis to recite Macbeth over the end for obvious reasons. The results speak for themselves!”
Yard Act opened the main stage at Reading & Leeds Festival last summer, as well as making appearances at Latitude (headlining the BBC Sounds stage, no less), Fuji Rocks, and Boardmasters. The band also returned to North America in November 2023 with a run of headline shows across the US, culminating in a slot at Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival. Yard Act delivered an unprecedented five night residency at their hometown’s Brudenell Social Club in 2023, which was awarded four stars each in reviews from Rolling Stone UK, The Telegraph, and The Times. The band were joined by a stellar lineup of comedians; Phill Jupitus, Nish Kumar, Lolly Adefope, and Harry Hill. Yard Act also made their festival headline bow at Dot To Dot in Bristol & Nottingham, performed at Primavera (Barcelona, Madrid & Porto) and played their maiden shows in Australia and New Zealand, truly making their mark on the global stage.
