Cassette Tape

Tracklist:

1. An Illusion
2. We Make Hits
3. Down By the Stream
4. The Undertow
5. Dream Job
6. Fizzy Fish
7. Petroleum
8. When the Laughter Stops
9. Grifters Grief
10. Blackpool Illuminations
11. A Vineyard for the North

Wheres My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds bands critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. The Overload was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize after a slew of positive reviews, national radio playlistings and a placing at #2 in the Official Charts.

Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartets second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. The main reason that post-punk was the vehicle for Album One was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we’ve had the confidence to embrace it, James explains. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spillers 00s pop smash Groovejet make themselves known.

Its a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontmans own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative – but with jokes. You can commit to the idea that were just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and thats fine, he suggests. But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.