One of the biggest compliments my wife can give an artist is that they’re great at festivals. She means this sincerely. It’s one thing for your live set to have heft and presence when playing indoors, and it’s easy to sound good when performing at a formal amphitheater specifically designed for outdoor acoustics. However, your festival set has to bring a depth of energy that carries your sound far and wide.
Thus, she’s talking about bands that excel at playing an hour-long set at a three-day event. These are the bands that compete with food and booze lines, idle conversation, people simply walking around, and multiple other stages. Not only do they hold their own against those distractions, but they succeed by grabbing your attention, holding your gaze, and delivering a superior experience.
She considers The Joy Formidable one of the modern-day champions of this aesthetic.
For over a decade, this Welsh trio has delivered loud, bristling arena rock that manages to eschew all of the trappings of that genre. Typically armed with the classic guitar, bass, and drums, they generate considerable volume without bowing to tawdry melodrama. This is compelling no-frills music that still sounds full and sumptuous. And when enjoyed in a live outdoor setting, the group delivers even greater verve that consistently connects with people.
All of this is delivered in spades on Into the Blue.
With 11 songs clocking in over 50 minutes in length, this superb new album features the band’s finely honed sound and clear production aesthetic. Rooted in familiar ideas, the trio’s rich sonic palette ensures the music doesn’t feel tired or formulaic. The thunderous drumming effectively complements the buzzing power chords and snaking guitar licks. Yet, even as delay, echo, and feedback create thick walls of sound, these are still straight-ahead rock songs.
The music fairly rips. It rightly aims for the mountaintops, but it also acknowledges the valleys and plateaus. By aiming for earnestness without overt idealism, The Joy Formidable provide a thoughtful aggression. The band is unafraid of its feelings, but they also aren’t overindulgent. They create heavy, meaningful rock that appreciates restraint.
The snarling opening riff of “Chimes” just kicks my ass, and that’s before the drums join the game to give Rhiannon Bryan’s pipes some extra oomph. “Interval” oozes a slinky angst and malice you don’t often hear in the band’s catalog, but they make it work by eschewing cliched minor key moodiness.
With “Farrago,” we’re treated to a steady, purposeful march up to a glistening peak. The guitars swirl around your ears like disorienting winds, but if you pay close attention to Bryan’s sultry voice, you’ll make it there successfully. “Left Too Soon” serves as a classic album-closer for this act, as the music builds from a near-whisper to a cacophonous climax that can’t be denied.
Imagine latter-career U2 or mid-period Coldplay, but without the bombast.
Much like CHVRCHES and Lauren Mayberry, you come to The Joy Formidable for the keen reinvention of familiar genre tropes, but you stay because Bryan has a voice you cannot ignore. Her gorgeous, ethereal vocals sit up front in the recorded mix and consistently enthrall my sense. She possesses a resolute attitude that peals out with clarity and strength, no matter the guitar levels.
Into the Blue delivers exactly what I didn’t know I needed from anthemic rock in 2021. By slyly and subtly updating their sound with each subsequent release, The Joy Formidable achieve a throwback feel that doesn’t sound like a warmed-over retread. The band knows just when to round out the edges of its sound with synth pads and electronic flair, but they also have the instincts to know when to blow the doors off with sheer rock energy. I highly recommend you engage this album through superior headphones or top-notch speakers.