The Joy Formidable

The Joy Formidable was conceived by music-obsessed friends Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd when they were both students in Wales. After a brief hiatus, they relocated to London, brought in drummer Matt Thomas, and got down to writing and recording a record. The resulting sound melds the huge expanses of the band members' native Welsh countryside with the hectic nature of their new London home. That sound has won them the praise of the highly influential NME and airplay on the UK's Radio 1.

The Joy Formidable has sold out multiple UK tours throughout the past year and supported several standout bands including Editors and The Temper Trap. After touring the UK with Passion Pit, the band was invited to join them as the opening act to their shows at New York's Terminal 5. Additionally, this past spring the wowed audiences on an East Coast run, prompting Spin on its website to laud their show at the Bamboozle as "best breakout performance " of the entire festival.

The band's eight-song debut EP A Balloon Called Moaning has been critically well-received, with SPIN calling the release "ambitious... drenched in...fuzzy bass, propelled by...driving percussion... the album transforms shoegaze's ear-stabbing reverb into something pretty, airy, girly...and sometimes dark." FILTER went on to say that The Joy Formidable "rocks like a grungier version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...joyous." The New York Times congratulated the songs' "cryptic lyrics that glint with urgency" and said that "the music regenerates the turbulent haze of 1990s shoegazer rock, but... it's less tormented and more anthemic, confident of the pop structures at its core." Highly Recommended!

The Joy Formidable - Live at the Relentless Garage, London 30 September 2009
The Joy Formidable @ MySpace



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SONG OF THE DAY: Women - Eyesore
(from Public Strain, out September 28th on Jagjaguwar)

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