Photo credit: Timothy Hiatt
The Joy Formidable plays The Back Room @ Colectivo with special guests Twen on Friday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m.
Welsh alt-rock band The Joy Formidable has packed this decade full of excellent recordings and live performances. They’ve toured every year since 2010, with up to five tours per year, and recorded four studio albums since 2011 with the promise of another in 2020. Now the band celebrates the 10th anniversary of A Balloon Called Moaning (their first extended play released in 2008) with the release of an eponymous double album. After touring in the United Kingdom, the noisy rockers will touch down in the United States and make their way to The Back Room at Colectivo on Friday, Dec. 13.
The band plays upbeat rock music slathered with guitar distortion and feedback that runs through a mess of pedals and oversized amps. Some might call what they play “dream pop” or “shoegazing” because of the dreamy, wall-of-sound quality to their music. Ritzy Bryan, frontwoman of the band, plays guitar and sings. Rhydian Dafydd plays bass and provides backup vocals, while Matt Thomas plays the drums. As in their performances, the trio has worked tirelessly and without a break, living in the moments between the next recording studio or venue.
The 10th-anniversary LP has 16 songs that come in two flavors: The first eight original songs from A Balloon Called Moaning, remastered in the band’s familiar shoegazing style, and the second eight are acoustic versions of those songs with Welsh lyrics. The acoustic versions aren’t added solely for the purpose of extending sound time, but they’re a display of the band’s versatility, with each song having its own unique identity. Welsh was also a driving force when the band chose to record this new LP, and the language is expected to carry on to their future work.
“The inspiration came from wanting to do a larger body of Welsh material,” says Bryan. “That has definitely been pulling at us creatively. It’s my second language, and it’s reaching the first.” Bryan is still trying to find comfort in her lyrical voice in Welsh, and she’s less shy about finding it now as audiences react positively to hearing it.
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“We’ve been really touched by how interested a lot of our international audience has been in [the Welsh language],” Bryan says. “Most of our live sets—even before this release—featured Welsh songs. We felt like the interest was there, which is an exciting thing because we love where we come from.”
“The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade” is a heavy, droning opening song with rhythmic, chirping guitars and pounding drums. “Y Golau Mwyaf yw’r Cysgod Mwyaf,” a direct translation of the first song, replaces the looming electric guitar with an orchestral string section. “Crud” keeps the punchy energy of its sister song, “Cradle,” while delivering an indulgent, homey melody. Bryan, no matter what language she’s singing in, carries each track with her breathy, angelic voice.
“I really like to create a connection between us and the audience,” Bryan says about playing. “I don’t ever feel like we’re playing in a bubble.” She describes her goals on stage as to have a “conversation” with the audience and to provide an escape for the people who attend her shows. “Sometimes, some songs in the set are emotive for me, so I don’t mind people feeling emotional, too.”
After playing at Colectivo, The Joy Formidable will play across the country for the rest of the year and take a short hiatus. During their break, the band will work on its next album. “It’s very demo-formed at the moment,” Bryan says. “We haven’t completely decided how we want to record it, but the demos are very rough.” Most of the details are still undetermined. Bryan says they haven’t yet decided where to record the album, however, she’s excited about seeing how it will develop. “It can go in a lot of directions, to be honest.”
The Joy Formidable plays The Back Room @ Colectivo with special guests Twen on Friday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m.
