One of our favorite discoveries from the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon was Yak. Hailing from London, the psych-noise-punk rock trio put on a frenetic and unrelenting live set. Unfortunately, they only played a couple gigs at the festival (their first in the US), but thankfully it looks like they will be returning in March for SXSW and a brief US tour that includes two shows in New York City. The group also announced a US release date for their debut LP, Alas Salvation, and shared a video for the opening track, “Victorious (National Anthem)”. Below you can find the video, tour dates and a track list for Alas Salvation below, as well as photos of their venomous CMJ show at Mercury Lounge.

The band, which consists of frontman Oli Burslem, Andy Jones (bass), and Elliot Rawson (drums), plan to release Alas Salvation on their own label Octopus Electrical via Kobalt Label Services on May 13. Produced by Pulp’s Steve Mackey, Alas Salvation is described as being ambitious and slightly schizophrenic. Burlsem has said that the band has put so many different elements into the record that they hope it all just gets lost and listeners will be like, “What the hell was that? I don’t know what that was, but I kind of enjoyed it.” Alas Salvation is available for pre-order now on Yak’s website.

Artist/photographer Nick Waplington, who did the cover art for Yak’s previous releases Hungry Heart, EPs No, and Plastic People, has designed a beauteous abstract for Alas Salvation. You can find it above.

As for the New York City shows, tickets are currently on sale here for Yak’s show at Berlin on March 30. Tickets for the show at Saint Vitus on March 31 go on sale here Friday, February 12 at 10am. Update: The show at Saint Vitus has been moved to March 29, all tickets previously purchased will be honored, refunds issued at point of purchase.

Yak Tour Dates (*updated 2/18)
12th February – Berghain Kantine, Berlin, Germany
15th February – Gorilla, Manchester, UK*
16th February – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK*
17th February – Thekla, Bristol, UK*
18th February – Electric Ballroom, London, UK*
19th February – The Haunt, Brighton, UK*
22nd February – La Mecanique Ondulatoire, Paris, France
*with King Gizzard & The Wizard Lizard

16th – 19th March – SXSW, Austin, TX, US
20th March – Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA, US
23rd March – Bootleg Theater, Los Angeles, CA, US
25th March – Hideout, Chicago, IL, US
26th March – Silver Dollar, Toronto, ON, US
28th March – Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, US
29th March – Saint Vitus, Brooklyn, NY, US*
30th March – Berlin, New York, NY, US

15th April – Printemps de Bourges, Bourges, France
11th May – The Rainbow, Birmingham, UK
12th May – Bungalows & Bears, Sheffield, UK
13th May – Stereo, Glasgow, Scotland, UK w/Baby Strange
14th May – Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
15th May – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
18th May – The Exchange, Bristol, UK
20th May – Joiners Arms, Southampton, UK
21st May – The Bullingdon, Oxford, UK
24th May – Dingwalls, London, UK
29th May – Big Next Festival, Gent, Belgium
30th May – Merleyn Nijmegen, Netherlands
31st May – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Alas Salvation Tracklisting:
Victorious (National Anthem)
Hungry Heart
Use Somebody
(Interlude I)
Roll Another
Curtain Twitcher
Take It
Harbour The Feeling
Alas Salvation
Smile
Doo Wah
(Interlude II)
Please Don’t Wait For Me

Photos by Mindy Bond, taken at Mercury Lounge, NYC, October 15, 2015