Yard Act's Third Album 'You're Gonna Need A Little Music': The Leeds Four-Piece Find Their Footing
Yard Act release their third album, You're Gonna Need A Little Music, via Loma Vista Recordings on July 17, 2026. Ahead of the official release, the band played the album in full at free pop-up shows — one at Unit 58 in North London, another in the car park of Leeds venue Brudenell Social Club — giving a few hundred lucky attendees, plus NME, an early listen back in May.
Behind the record
Following their Mercury Prize-nominated debut The Overload (2022) and the Gorillaz-tinged follow-up Where's My Utopia? (2024), Yard Act set up their own studio space in Leeds, giving the band room to write and demo at their own pace. After wrapping a venue tour with The Hives in autumn 2025, frontman James Smith said in an interview that it was the first time since the band started touring that they'd been able to properly stop and think.
Once the early writing was done, the band brought in producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen — known for his work with Beck and Wolf Alice — and relocated to his studio in Los Angeles to finish the record.
Standout tracks
Per NME's review, the album blends off-kilter piano with heavy garage-rock on 'Tall Tales', with the title track's chorus landing to great effect; 'Thrill Of The Chase' is the most direct return to the band's post-punk roots, pushing into a rap-inflected sprint; 'New Beginnings' captures the sense of a fresh start for what the band nicknames 'LP3' in the studio. 'Fiction' centers on Janey, a fictional, ambition-driven alter ego created by Smith, reflecting the album's broader theme of moving between truth and fiction.
- 💿 Album: You're Gonna Need A Little Music
- 🏷️ Label: Loma Vista Recordings
- 📅 Release date: July 17, 2026 (Thursday)
- 🎙️ Producer: Justin Meldal-Johnsen