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…