Yard Act formed in Leeds in September 2019 when Ryan Needham found himself temporarily living in James Smith's spare bedroom. Settling into a system of programming, looping and layering, the alchemy between the two created a base from which to build their complex and ever expanding narrative world. “Ryan is a vibe guy, whereas I overthink everything,” laughs Smith. “It’s been the greatest creative partnership I've ever had. When you find a groove that works, it just kind of looks after itself.”
With just three hometown shows under their belt, world events intervened. But rather than letting the pandemic derail them Yard Act set up their own imprint, Zen F.C. and across the course of 2020 and into early 2021 released four increasingly coruscating, hilariously dark singles.
Now expanded to a four-piece, joined by Sam Shjipstone (guitar) and Jay Russell (drums), they’ve announced their debut album “The Overload”, set for release on 7th January 2022. Their inherent wit has been sharpened down into something that speaks to the times we live in, creating a statement of intent that survives on nuance, that manages to poke fun at society without punching down from a place of left-wing superiority or right-wing anger. The Overload is a political record, but in the same way that all great observations of human nature are – a messy, complex, knowingly hypocritical snapshot of our current state of play.
Label: ZEN F.C. – ZENFC007LP, Island Records – ZENFC007LP
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: Jan 21, 2022
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Post-Punk
Tracklist
A1 The Overload
A2 Dead Horse
A3 Payday
A4 Rich
A5 The Incident
A6 Witness
B1 Land Of The Blind
B2 Quarantine The Sticks
B3 Tall Poppies
B4 Pour Another
B5 100% Endurance
