Yard Act play Where’s My Utopia? tracks and meet fans at HMV in-store gig

Leeds post-punkers Yard Act headed to the HMV Vault this week for an in-store performance to promote their new album and to meet fans.

The band released their second album Where’s My Utopia? last week and to celebrate the record’s release, have been playing a series of in-store gigs before their main tour to promote the album kicks off.

They headed to the Dale End venue in Birmingham on Wednesday where they played nine songs from the new record and after, met fans and signed copies of their new album.

On their second album, Yard Act have taken their post-punk blueprint which propelled them to fame on their debut and headed off in the direction of multiple different genres.

Their intimate set at the Vault gave fans an excellent flavour of the new record – with the quartet augmented with two-backing singers and an additional member on keys and sax.

Opening with An Illusion, Yard Act showcased this eclectic mix of sounds through tracks including Dream Job, Down By The Stream and Petroleum, all melding elements of spoken word post-punk with disco, hip-hop and jazzy riffs.

Between songs, frontman James Smith was on chatty form, commenting on the cavernous scale of the Vault (it’s Europe’s largest entertainment store apparently) while also joking “I didn’t know HMV sold Japanese snacks and I’m not against it,” and discussing the wall of t-shirts to his left.

The highlight of Yard Act’s set was recent single We Make Hits, the band’s witty origin story and promise to write hooks.

Next week, Yard Act kick off a 13-date UK tour and if their brief set at the Vault proved anything, it’s that the new tracks sound great and while taking the band’s sound into new territory, everything will sit perfectly alongside their back catalogue.

Yard Act played:

An Illusion

Grifter’s Grief

Dream Job

Down By The Stream

Petroleum

Fizzy Fish

We Make Hits

When The Laughter Stops

A Vineyard In The North