Yard Act - "You're Gonna Need A Little Music" (2026)

Yard Act are a funny one for me, being a group that I've always felt like I should like way more than I actually do. They burst onto the scene in 2021 with the Dark Days EP, which was quickly followed up in early 2022 with their debut record The Overload. Being politically charged post-punk that was very in vogue in the post-Brexit / Covid lockdown era (e.g. Fontaines D.C. and IDLES), it should've been right up my street. However I felt it was already behind the curve, with a glut of other bands with a similar stark post-punk sound and talk-sung lyrics in the vain of Mark E. Smith around at the time. The fact that two weeks later, Black Country, New Road released Ants From Up There and basically shook off any tethers of the Post-Brexit / Crank Wave stylings made Yard Act the posterchild for 'Radio 6, post-Brexit, post-punk landfill' to me. This was probably a little unfair of me, as The Overload has aged better than some of the other albums from the scene (does anyone even remember Dry Cleaning or Goat Girl?); as frontman James Smith's witty, sarcastic lyrics have held up rather well and the post-punk and dance-punk grooves are incredibly tight and well performed.

It was only upon the release of their second album, Where's My Utopia? in 2024, that I started paying more attention. The group broadened their sound, taking more influence from fellow West Yorkshire bands Pulp and Arctic Monkeys, and took a different direction with the themes of the record, essentially being this meta-commentary on the band's place within the scene and how they're not ashamed to make more pop-leaning tunes, music snobs be damned! (One of the singles was called We Make Hits, so it's hardly subtle). I enjoyed Where's My Utopia? way more than The Overload, but I still wouldn't say the band had truly found who they were yet; or that the album was a must listen for the genre. I was intrigued where the band would go from here, as it felt to me as if they were caught in a no-mans land. Too on the nose and derivative to be put in the same bracket as the arty, experimental Windmill Scene bands; but also too politically charged and uncommercial to really fit in with the Radio 1 acceptable indie rock.

That brings us to You're Gonna Need A Little Music, which sort of slots in the middle sound-wise between their previous albums. It's more rock leaning (and definitely their heaviest album) than WMU? but retains a lot of quirky, stuffed to the brim songwriting and poppy, melodic sensibility. That is made clear by the opening cut, Empty Pledges, and its crashing, thunderous drumming and cacophonous piano hits. The track is from the perspective of Smith coming back to Leeds after years away and the vibe changing with former friends, where neither party really relating to each other anymore. The track builds to an intense climax that sets the tone for the record, which is more in your face and fiery than . 

New Beginnings follows up with one of the most straightforward indie rock tunes the band has recorded thus far. The song has an earworm hook and a bouncy riff. I like the imagery around framing making life decisions that pan out well like a smug lottery winner, but the song overall is a little too repetitive for me after the third time the singalong chorus comes around. It's all very arms-in-the-air and festival friendly. Tall Tales, similarly, has interesting ideas around deception and how people aren't always how they first seem to be; but the chorus is simple and repetitive, and just does not do it for me. Fiction rounds out the first leg of the record and further delves into this idea of competing truths, and the cynicism and profiteering that occurs when pitting people who are so steadfast in their opinions against each other. It is one of the more on the nose tracks the band has written, and honestly to me is a little obnoxious. The refrain is literally "I sing my thesis to you / you sling your faeces at me / we're all bananas to the monkey in the tree".

It's only when the title track comes around, and the band moves away from the more generic indie rock / post-punk instrumentation, that my interest really returns to the record. The song is a Pulp-esque disco rock jam where Smith croons in his lower register about evocative story-telling and how embellishment of events makes them more memorable. The song's protagonist is deliberately presented in a seedy and sleazy way, and there's even a murder plotline involving the sister of 'Janey', a recurring character throughout the lyrics of the album. The drama and excess of the tune certainly go over a lot better than the fairly thinly sketched cynicism and more run of the mill indie rock instrumentation of the album after Empty Pledges. Cherophobe Rock takes aim at those pretentious folk who take themselves too seriously, with an instrumental that has a bit more of an umph too it than some of the earlier tracks. I like the energy of the song, but I do find the lyrical content funny from a band that I find can come across a little smug and self-satisfied themselves.

Thrill Of The Chase is where the album really kicks into another gear. The song is a breakneck rap-rock jam where Smith lets go of his more composed and sarcastic delivery and morphs into a full tirade, taring into performative virtue signallers and the endlessly changing standards they hold, and the pointlessness of 'chasing' this degree of perfection. Janey Said then flips the energy completely, slowing everything down to essentially a poem set to very minimal and hazy music. The imagery of the song paints an evocative if slightly surreal image of James meeting up with the character of Janey for a catchup, and framing his worries about life and the band (whether it will last, or will fall apart) as insignificant to whatever her struggles are. What she's feeling is never explicitly described, but James knows something is off. It's a really clever track that really encapsulates that feeling of watching an old friend struggle but not knowing how to help.

Following this, Redeemer comes crashing in, bringing back all of the intensity and fire that had previously been building up through Cherophobe Rock and Thrill Of The Chase. The song is this moody and sludgy tune that recalls the dark bitterness of Arctic Monkey's Humbug - a vibe perfectly fitting for a track about clinging to your chosen messiah-figure as the whole world falls apart around you. The song is pointed and angry, and has only grown on me since it was released as the lead single for the record. Unfortunately the album returns back to the more jaunty indie rock for it's last two cuts and kind of drops off a cliff for me. Talky Talky People once again returns to the topic of people who talk too much and don't know when to shut up, but the repeated hook of "Talky talky people" just feels rather amateurish to me. Over The Barrel is just as tacky to me, with its bouncy indie rock bassline and syncopated 'carnival'-style piano hits. The song sounds like the end to a panto or something to me and it just feels jarring after the angrier and heavier second half.

I think You're Gonna Need A Little Music is a mostly good album and Yard Act's best effort so far; but they still feel like a band that hasn't quite found their niche yet. The more indie leaning cuts don't hit me the way the heavier ones here do. I'm intrigued by where the band go from here, as the scene they broke through as part of doesn't really exist any more, and the album didn't chart nearly as high as their previous two - suggesting that the audience appetite for this kind of politically charged, wordy post-punk might not be there anymore. As it stands though, YGNALM is solid and have come back to it multiple times since it released in July, which is more longevity than any previous Yard Act project has had for me.

Top Tracks: Empty Pledges, You're Gonna Need A Little Music, Thrill Of The Chase, Janey Said, Redeemer

7/10 

Phoebe Bridgers - "Lost Weekend" (2026)

This new record from Phoebe Bridgers might just be the most anticipated of the year for chronically online music nerds, as unlike her other boygenius compatriots (Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker), she didn't really capitalise on the supergroup's hype to release a solo record immediately after all the boygenius promo and tour wrapped up; instead very much going of the radar for a couple of years. You can count me in that group too, as the boygenius record has basically been in constant rotation for me since its release in 2023; and her preceding solo album (2020's Punisher) has grown into an all time favourite for me. The way that album quietly and subtly seeps into your bones is really quite moving. If ever a record sounds like getting caught up in the past on a cold, wet November day, it is Punisher.

The first taste we got of the album was the second track, Lost Boys, which on first glance is the antithesis to a lot of what Punisher (and Phoebe's work in general) represented. It is a big, bombastic, pop-folk tune that isn't subtle in the slightest and features pop-superproducer Jack Antonoff on the credits. In isolation, it could be construed as Phoebe "going mainstream" and "selling out". But to me, it feels more like Phoebe stepping up to all of those who she has inspired and have taken her sound, commercialised it and made it radio-friendly; and showing that she can do it better. The instrumentation swells up to the massive choruses and Phoebe's songwriting is as sharp as ever - telling tales of these supposedly damaged and reckless men she seems to attract that never seem to want to grow up and take some responsibility. My favourite part is the cathartic, screamed "One, two, three, AHHHHHH!" in the run up to the final chorus of the song.

Lost Weekend, as whole, is a record on the longer side, and while listening I've found myself compartmentalising the album into three acts. I have no idea if this was the intended approach, but my first exposure to the tracklist was Phoebe posting the vinyl running on Instagram where the album was split into 3 sides (as opposed to 4 that is the usual for records that spill onto a second disk). I think this is more to do with the side D featuring a vinyl-only bonus track featuring Isaac Wood of all people (his return to the public eye was something I never had expected). But I now can't not listen to the album in this way (despite not owning the vinyl currently), and honestly I think it works pretty well. The first leg of the record is where most of the 'big-hitters' like Lost Boys sit: the ones with slightly less dark lyrical content, and the more mainstream-palatable instrumentation and song structures. Again, to reiterate, this is not the 'sellout' chunk of the record, as all of these songs are frankly brilliant and show Phoebe to be leagues ahead of her contemporaries.

Admittedly, the two tracks that sit either side of Lost Boys very moody and low-key, and have some left field production quirks that really set up the overall feel and vibe of the record. The opener, The Outside, brings us into the record with heavily processed and vocoder-effected vocals set against a very bare and stark instrumental. The song is structurally really simple, with two verses and a two line chorus, repeated twice, and this set up is used to highlight the themes of the song - about how Phoebe can dissociate in traumatic situations, but that also hinders her experience of moments that are supposed to be joyous as well. The first verse focuses on the funeral of Phoebe's father (who her complicated relationship with has often been a topic in her past work, and is also much of the focus of Lost Weekend). It features the brilliantly evocative double entendre "One more time for old time's sake / I'll watch him get carried away". The second verse, however, shows how this coping mechanism has turned against Phoebe, as she describes dissociating while performing her own concert. It's a really powerful way to open up the album and sets up the themes of grief and the complicated feelings that come with losing someone who you have such a messy and tangled relationship with.

Kill Me follows the bombast of Lost Boys by once again slowing it down with a gentle arpeggiated acoustic guitar line, pillowy synths and echo-y, reverbed percussion. It's the longest song on the record and also my favourite. The use of negative space during the chorus as Phoebe sings "This is gonna kill me ... Wait" is exquisite. The song features the first reference on the record to 'Bobby', who, as those who keep up with celeb gossip know, is comedian / musician Bo Burhnam and Phoebes partner. The lyrics of the track read to me as the outpouring of guilt and worry about the messy ending and potential overlap between Phoebe's relationship with Bo and her previous relationship (which was also a high-profile celeb pairing). The track completely switches up in its final moments into a loud, clattering, industrial sounding instrumental with ominous backing vocals from Cameron Winter (for some reason credited as Son John Johnson as if his extremely distinctive voice wasn't obvious!). The music gets lounder and more intense as Phoebe howls "Let's go missing", before ending with a hard cut. It's such a phenomenal outro to the song that I would have easily taken another minute. As it stand, however, it is still one of Phoebe's very best songs.

Phoebe's blossoming relationship with Bo is the other main theme of the record, and the following two songs on the first 'act' or the album continue on that narrative. The Governor's Waltz is a twinkly waltz with some quite cutting lyrics taking swipe at her previous relationship and his new partner. It is one of the more straightforward and poppy tunes on the record, but Phoebe still kills it with her really deadpan delivery. Bobby closes out the first side with a track even more bombastic and over the top than Dead Boys. Everything in the mix is layered up and blow out, and Phoebe is yelling and howling on the vocals. Quite fitting for a song that is all about overwhelming infatuation with someone.

Things get darker and weirder on the onset of the second side, opening with the title track. The song is one of the more obtuse on the record, with it being unclear who the lyrics are about / directed to. Some seem to be about Phoebe's father, others are clearly focused on previous romantic partners. On the whole, the fuzzy narrative makes the song read to me about getting stuck in the past, reliving the good times and the bad, and focusing on all the untied threads from long ago. Much like Kill Me, the back end of the song shifts into something completely different - this time being a spacey electronic outro with skittering electronics and soaring strings. Haunted follows this up with a jaunty, off-kilter americana tune. The song has already become a fan favourite from the record, and while it took me a little while to warm up to it myself, I can certainly see why. The imagery around haunted houses and the supernatural would make it fit snugly on punisher, and the song has a driving momentum to it that Phoebe songs aren't typically known for.

Panorama sits at the dead centre of the record and I feel like is one of the most bold and ambitious tracks on the album. It is essentially an ambient, folktronica interlude with no lyrics outside of a distant hazy outro. This leads into Still Standing, which is easily the darkest song on the record and quite possibly out of Phoebe's discography overall. The song ditches a lot of obtuse references and unstructured narratives that often characterises Phoebe's work, in favour of quite directly confronting her confusing and troubled relationship with her dad. The final verse has a pretty harrowing recounting of the domestic violence Phoebe witnessed growing up, and every time I listen I am left bereft by it.

Liberty Tree closes out the second 'act', and is the first time I feel like the record faulters a little. It's another big, bombastic lovesong dedicated to Bo; but I feel like it is functionally covering the same role on the album as Bobby, and I'm also usually still processing the devastation of Still Standing and it just sort of breezes by. I feel like the record could have done with another instrumental cut separating these two just to give a little more space and breathing room to both tracks. It features a melodic callback to Graceland Too from Punisher, but I've not quite figured out the link myself.

The closing third 'act' switches things up once more, with most of the six tracks being very short, fragmentary, almost vignette-like songs. I don't know if the intention was to create an Abbey Road-esque extended closing medley, but it does feel like some of these songs are a little underdeveloped in isolation. Never Going Back! works well as an opener to the third side, but on its own doesn't really offer much. Other Plans is spooky and haunting, but consists of only one verse and a chorus when I feel like the atmosphere of the song could have carried more. Lost Parade is another short instrumental interlude that calls back to Graceland Too. 

I Can't Wait is the first fully fledged song on the back end of the album, and certainly feels like a dramatic culmination of the album's sound and tone. It flits between sections of pulsating folktronica and more organic, twangy americana, before closing on a subtly triumphant indie folk climax with a powerful horn section. The song features the return of Cameron Winter, and his chemistry with Bridgers is excellent and really makes the tune. I Can't Wait would make a fitting closer to the record, but it's fitting that a record as thematically heavy and emotionally scattered as Lost Weekend once again turns towards the darkness with its final two tracks. The atmospheric instrumental of As Above feels weightless in a very creepy and unnerving way, almost like being abducted by aliens - which feels very fitting for a song all about grief, the afterlife and moving on. The record closes out on a simple acoustic reprise of Lost Weekend, with a new verse that features lyrics looking back on Phoebe's relationship with her father in a much more endearing sense - highlighting the complexities and contradictions of familial relationships, and even after it is all over there still isn't a clear answer.

Lost Weekend is a really great album, and for the most part lives up to the hype. The ambitious ambient and folktronica elements mesh seamlessly into Phoebe's existing sonic palette, and her songwriting is as on point as it always is. If anything, the record could've done with being even longer; with more space for more of the atmospheric interludes, and for some of the shorter cuts on the back end to develop into fully fledged songs. It isn't quite as tight, or immediately cathartic as Punisher - but I guarantee you that if you let sit with you for a while, there is so much that keeps you coming back.

Top Tracks: Outside, Lost Boys, Kill Me, Governor's Walz, Bobby, Lost Weekend, Haunted, Panorama, Still Standing, I Can't Wait, As Above, Lost Weekend (Reprise)

8/10