Photo by Phoebe Fox

Yard Act arrived on the scene in 2022 with their debut full-length, The Overload, as a very concise and capable political post-punk band who fit seamlessly into the firebrand jib-jawing style that was happening at that moment, but at the same time, they weren’t exactly breaking any molds. As that scene has evolved, however, so has Yard Talk’s direction, which as it turns out has made for one of the more anticipated sounds to come in 2024, with “The Trench Coat Museum” and “Dream Job” — early singles from the Leeds band’s sophomore follow-up, Where’s My Utopia? — finding inspo in more colorful dance-punk movements of their own design. “Petroleum”, the album’s latest highlight, goes a few steps further in expanding their canvas, with the listen being under the influence of psychedelic Brit-pop and ’90s alternative’s stranger wavelengths that suit the song’s chemical effects. “And if I knew how to control it I would / My bones burn,” sings frontman James Smith. “And the brain that’s controlling them / Knows that the soul needs petroleum / That’s how it goes.” And so Yard Act’s subversive political post-punk continues to burn, but just with a stickier substance.

Directed by: James Slater

Yard Act’s Where’s My Utopia? will be released March 1st on Republic Records.