The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar, a review



Just to test the water: WELSH INDIE ROCKERS. AN 8-MINUTE OPENING TRACK.

To the rest of you still reading, thank you. Because whilst these might scare off a few, the Joy Formidable are worth your (however brief) attention. They tick a lot of positive boxes too - female vocalist, Bloc Party-style rock-euphoria sounds, stadium filling anthems. They've been compared to Arcade Fire and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They had a free iTunes single of the week spot and landed in at #39 in the album chart. It's a slow but exciting debut, for sure.

Ambitious monolith opener 'The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie' is tense, epic, brusque kickoff with a frenzied crescendo almost leaving them with the need to start anew, somewhat reminiscent of Snow Patrol's "Open Your Eyes" calibre. It's coincidentally followed with 'The Magnifying Glass' and an intro of riotous laughter. Um. Well the music that follows is fast, bold and would please virtually any festival-goer ever.



There are quickfire drums and more 'epic'ness in the form of 'I Don't Want To See You Like This' where vocalist Ritzy Bryan shines, varying between sultry whispers and stirring choruses. A high-pitched vocal hook provides 'Austere' with its obvious single potential, showcasing a brief glimpse into their stadium-filling yet refreshingly earnest vibe.

There's a slight predictability about 'The Heavy Abacus' and a lack of variation in the progression and chorus makes it noticeably stale. 'Whirring' is so Yeah Yeah Yeahs inspired it could pass off as a shrine to Karen O. And a brief psychedelic ballad is proffered in the form of 'Buoy', somewhere between 'Pyramid Song' and Velvet Revolver (a gap that, honestly, works).

Shades of U2esque guitars glimmer on '(Maruyama)' with a minimalist, somewhat spooky interlude. However 'Cradle' throws that out of the window, sounding...without want of a better mental image, Yeah Yeah Yeahs with welsh accents. It's energetic and flicks through chords like a hot knife through butter.


'Llaw=Wall' offers a male vocalist for a change of scenery, emphasised with a kind of echoed synth backdrop before launching into anthem'o'clock. By the time 'Chapter 2' arrives you're kind-of hoping for a little variety and are thus disappointed with this. And so we conclude with 'The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade', a synth-laden affair with fun twists and turns to steer home their rock epic in something fit for a music video with wind machines and crying orphan children or something.

It's an ambitious project for a new artist. But they pull it off - there are nods to all the right influences and aspirations for great things. Whether or not it'll work for them is consequential, but the materials are all here.

Rating: 7/10
Highlights: The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie, Buoy, (Marujama), Austere, The Magnifying Glass
Avoid: Chapter 2, A Heavy Abacus

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