HELLO THERE: Part of the resurgence of Post-Punk in the English scene, Leeds group Yard Act have entered with two strong singles this year, The Trappers Pelts and their newest release at the time of publication, Fixer Upper. Listening in on Radio 6, I fell in love with the concept of this song before the first verse had come to an end.
From the perspective of a middle aged property investor named Graham, we are engrossed in a one sided conversation between him and his new neighbour. It’s incredibly likely you know a Graham in your life, be it your neighbour, uncle or God forbid a close family member. If you don’t know who your Graham might be, this song WILL take you back to your last encounter with that person and if you’ve never had such a time, it WILL give you the full experience of talking to an entitled older man about his new home that you could only dream of ever owning.
As for the song itself, piercing guitar, beefy beat and dancing bass line provide a great backing for the verbal delivery. The thing, almost stab like timbre of the guitar harkens back to acts such as Gang of Four, and as with all English Post-Punk acts, I will be making the obligatory comparison to The Fall’s Mark E. Smith’s vocal delivery, which is a requirement for all music journos writing about male English singers who aren’t really singing. As a rather large fan of this nearly spoken word conversationalist delivery this track gets big ups from me. Lyrically, the song is extremely clever and I eagerly await an EP from these gents.
Be sure to keep an eye out for more from Yard Act, and know that no one pulls a fast one on Graham.
7.5 Mark E Smith Uh’s out of 10