Yard Act have released “New Beginnings,” the second single and video from their forthcoming album You’re Gonna Need A Little Music. The Leeds quartet’s third studio album is due July 17 via Republic Records, and the band has also announced additional North American tour dates around Riot Fest.
“New Beginnings” follows the album’s lead single, “Redeemer.” In the announcement, frontman and vocalist James Smith described the new song as a lighter counterpoint to the darker tone of the first single. “‘New Beginnings’ is a bit of light to counteract the dark we led with,” Smith said. “Sometimes we’ve already shed our old skin without even realizing it’s happening. Celebrate the new, because you can’t go back.”
The album was recorded between Leeds and Los Angeles with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, whose credits include Nine Inch Nails, Beck, and St. Vincent. Smith, bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shjipstone, and drummer Jay Russell made the record together in the same room, a first for Yard Act. Smith said the band’s first two records were “both laptop records essentially,” while this album came from five months of uninterrupted writing and recording.
The announcement follows Yard Act’s 2024 album Where’s My Utopia?, which reached the UK Top 5. Their 2022 debut, The Overload, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The band’s summer schedule includes North American shows in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Brooklyn, Washington, Philadelphia, and Boston in August. Newly announced dates include Minneapolis on September 17, Chicago’s Riot Fest on September 18, Detroit on September 20, and Toronto on September 22. The band will also tour the UK and Europe in October and November, with shows scheduled in Paris, Brussels, Utrecht, Cologne, Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, and London.
