Every Monday, Add of the Week unveils all the new songs going into the 88Nine on-air playlist, with one hand-picked selection put in the spotlight by a member of our music team.
Leeds, England-based outfit Yard Act has long combined a playful sense of post-punk dance pop (like LCD Soundsystem) with cheeky humor (like Electric Six), both of which you’ll find in the four-piece’s newest single, “When the Laughter Stops”
The upbeat collab puts fellow U.K. indie-pop artist Katy J Pearson alongside Yard Act frontman James Smith on choruses that balloon bigger and bigger thanks to Pearson’s snappy delivery. The song’s lyrics center on Yard Act’s typical cynicism — in this case, an actor’s “audition of a lifetime” turning into a cold-blooded murder — but this time, as Smith says, “spoiler alert — I’ve managed to find a way out of this pit, for the time-being.”
Maybe it’s because the band claims they were heavily inspired by The Cardigans’ “Lovefool” for this one? Throw in English actor David Thewlis’ recitation of lines from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and you get a smart edge to shave off all the bubbles created by those big, pop choruses, still making it feel punk.
You can find “When the Laughter Stops” at the top of the page, on the 88Nine playlist and on Yard Act’s upcoming album, Where’s My Utopia, scheduled for release March 1 on Republic Records. There’s a good chance you’ll also hear it when the band swings through Cudahy for a show at X-Ray Arcade on Oct. 3.
This week’s other adds
- Warpaint, "Common Blue"
- Nemahsis, "i wanna be your right hand"
- Corridor, "Mourir Demain"
- Bardo, "Love Song for No One"
- Joe Wong, “Back to Blood”
- Vampire Weekend, "Gen-X Cops"
