After experiencing brief stardom at the age of 15 on Britain’s Got Talent, James Smith largely dropped out of sight. Now, with his first album release — after a series of variably executed EPs — Smith shows listeners what exactly he was doing with all that time out of the spotlight. On Aug. 23, he released his record “Common People.”

Leeds-based post-punk rockers Yard Act arrived on the scene to near-universal acclaim between 2021’s “Dark Days” EP and their 2022 debut album, “The Overload.” The latter project generated enough buzz to command a number two debut on the UK Albums Chart. The band’s political messaging and dry wit can come off incredibly heavy-handed at times on these projects, doubly so for lead vocalist James Smith, but this seems to have been counteracted with the March 1 release of “Where’s My Utopia?” through a complete reinvention of sound.