For any band that has been single-handedly trying to build themselves a successful career brick by brick over a number of years, it must be a huge and welcome relief to finally reach the stage of your first full-length album. This is almost certainly the case for North Wales trio the Joy Formidable who, after several years of gigging, self-recording, playing the festival circuit and just generally making a big noise, will at long last be delivering their debut album ‘The Big Roar’ at the end of the month. In fact, the Joy Formidable have become so familiar over the past twelve months or so, it may even come as a huge surprise to discover that this is only their first long-player. Listening to the album for the first time, it’s also easy to confuse them for a much more experienced and established band.
Following on from where they left off with 2009’s mini-album ‘A Balloon Called Moaning’, ‘The Big Roar’ opens with the sound of said inflatables being repetitively blown up and popped – a fitting intro to an often explosive album that brings a mixture of pop-infused melodies, heavy rock hooks and psychedelic curiosity to the proceedings. The finished package is lovingly gift-wrapped with the frequently charming and occasionally frantic vocals of singer Ritzy Bryan. Among the comparisons that can be made of ‘The Big Roar’, with its blend of hard rock chaos and dreamy, melodic enchantment, are Kim Deal’s alt-rockers the Breeders, who often bear a passing resemblance to the Joy Formidable. ‘The Big Roar’ is not simply a follow-up to ‘A Balloon Called Moaning’ but, with several re-recorded versions of some of those tracks, it is rather more like the next stage to the first few beginnings of their existence.
Eagerly setting out to prove that they are more than capable of great things, the Joy Formidable kick-off the album with the masterful ‘The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie’ which, with its epically-sized title and heroic running time of seven minutes and forty-four seconds, ambitiously places the band at an impressive starting point. The song itself, like much of the album, provides a thick and effervescent soundscape that effectively spans the boundary between indie music sophistication and pop appeal. Elsewhere, several of the songs display an urgent hard rock ferocity that blends seamlessly with the otherwise calming texture of the Joy Formidable’s sound. Worthy examples of this include the tracks ‘The Magnifying Glass’, ‘Chapter 2’ and recent single ‘Austere’.
What the Joy Formidable have brought to offer on ‘The Big Roar’ is a beguiling shoegazing sound for the current decade. Many of the tracks could justifiably be described as being largely pop-influenced but, with the thundering drums of Matt Thomas, the captivating basslines of Rhydian Daffyd and, as previously mentioned, the mesmerizing vocals of Ritzy Bryan, the alt-rock sincerity here is impossible to ignore. After too many years of making their way here, the Joy Formidable have finally reached the summit of what they have been striving so hard to achieve. And it’s about time.
Stereoboard Rating: 8/10
‘The Big Roar’ will be released on 24th January.
The Joy Formidable will be touring the UK in February 2011.
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