the leeds quartet’s debut single serves up two prime cuts of coruscating protopunk, fierce and fun in equal measures.

Formed in 2019, Yard Act began life when friends Ryan Needham (Bass) and James Smith (Vocals) started creating minimalist rock tracks using a primitive drum machine and borrowed bass guitar. Overflowing with satirical one-liners, A side ‘Fixer Upper’ follows a cocksure fictional character, ‘Graeme’, planning some home renovations. Drafting in Ross Orton (whose credits include Arctic Monkeys, Working Men's Club’s, MIA, Amyl & the Sniffers) on mixing duties, it is equal parts fearsome and funny and never less than breath-taking. On the flip side, ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ is a satirical take on neoliberalism. James Smith explains, “It skewers elements of the American frontier into a Scarface-type narrative set against the backdrop of a mundane West Yorkshire suburb.” Produced by Bill Ryder Jones (The Coral) prior to lockdown the recording process of the track “felt like a Happy Mondays thing, keeping the drums tight and high up in the mix like a dance mix.”