Along with the lucky hundreds in attendance at north London’s Unit 58 and the car park of Leeds’ Brudenell Social Club, NME first heard Yard Act’s new album in May. At these free last-minute gigs, the Leeds quartet surprised fans by playing ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ from top to bottom – instantly after it was announced. A power move that perhaps indicates the confidence they harness, now three albums in, but one that also mirrors the approach that birthed it: four live musicians under one roof at their most instinctive.

Following the bitty writing process that characterised their Mercury Prize-nominated debut album ‘The Overload’ (2022) and its playful successor ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ (2024), Yard Act assembled their own studio space in Leeds. Months of free-flowing creativity and demoing ensued before they invited producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Wolf Alice) into the fold, eventually decamping to his LA studio to finish the record. Besides an autumn arena tour with The Hives, 2025 largely provided “the first time since we began touring that we could stop and think straight”, frontman James Smith told DIY in a recent interview.

If their Gorillaz-esque second album felt like a reaction to the quick-witted post-punk that dominated ‘The Overload’, then ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ is Yard Act’s two-for-one deal, finding a way to meld the wonky piano in ‘Tall Tales’ with bulky garage-rock. The title track’s irresistibly euphoric chorus completely throws you off guard after Smith – narrating with the drab indifference of Confidence Man’s Sugar Bones – spices up his West Coast novel with life’s priceless ingredient: “All you gotta do is press play”.

The most rampant callback to their roots, ‘Thrill Of The Chase’ accelerates towards full-blown rap, while ‘New Beginnings’ carries the coming-of-age feeling that declares the house of LP3 – their studio, if you take “spend your winnings on new beginnings” literally – open for business. Subconsciously fuelled by Smith’s ambitious alter-ego Janey in ‘Fiction’ (“You get one shot / So roll the dice / Just put your foot down Jane”) or otherwise, the sonic decisions on ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ feel do-or-die: there’s a real precision about their genre-bending this time around.

That’s ironic, because the album’s subject matter is far more vague, reckoning with truth, fiction and the space between. “Sit down, shut up and listen”, Smith spits, but by the record’s penultimate track, he’s telling off “talky talky people” because “they never listen”. Yard Act have never been short of stuff to say, but after all is said and done, perhaps the titular takeaway is to open up our own ears. It’s a mantra that our hot-headed, opinionated world could do with acting on, whether that’s taking some occasional advice from Janey – or simply just soaking in “a little music”.

Details

  • Record label: Loma Vista Recordings
  • Release date: July 17, 2026

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