Early on in 2022, the Leeds band Yard Act released their debut album, The Overload, and it wasn’t long before they were co-signed by Elton John and getting nominated for a Mercury Prize alongside Wet Leg and Harry Styles. Today, they’re sharing a new single, the 8-minute-long “The Trench Coat Museum,” which they produced with Gorillaz affiliate Remi Kabaka Jr. The band’s James Smith said he wrote the song after their rise to fame “left us open to security and disdain just as much as love and appreciation.”

“Criticism is fair game and the internet is lawless so you gotta take it as it comes, but I definitely stopped searching for myself on Twitter the day I read that someone wanted to punch my lights out,” he said, continuing:

‘The Trench Coat Museum’ is about how our perception of everything shifts both collectively and individually over time at speeds we simply can’t measure in the moment. Within whatever space in society we occupy, we often see our own beliefs as being at the absolute pinnacle of what should be the ‘cultural norm’ and whilst the completely human trait of being self-assured can’t be helped, it’s an absolute hindrance on our collective process. We are one etc. (Are we fuck).

Watch a James Slater-directed video for the track below.

TOUR DATES:
07/21 Suffolk, UK @ Latitude Festival
07/28-30 Naeba, JP @ Fuji Rock Festival
08/12 Cornwall, UK @ Boardmasters
08/25 Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/26 Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
09/13 Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line
09/14 Madison, WI @ The Terrace at University of Wisconsin
09/15 Chicago, IL @ Riot Festival
11/02 Reykjavik, IS @ Iceland Airwaves
11/04 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw
11/05 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
11/06 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
11/07 Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
11/09 Nashville, TN @ The Basement East
11/10 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/11 New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
11/14 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11/15 Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Art Company
11/17 Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Festival
12/02 Bangkok, TH @ Maho Rasop Festival

“The Trench Coat Museum” is out now.