The Joy Formidable is a three piece band from North Wales that really burst onto the scene last year with the release of their superb (and very long for an EP) release A Balloon Called Moaning. They took some time and earlier this year dropped their full length LP effort with this album called The Big Roar. A lot of songs from the EP have made the jump over to the new album, which isn’t a bad thing at all, but in some ways where the prior EP was a sublimely paced, quick burst of brilliance, the way the old tracks interplay with the new material makes the album a little more awkwardly paced affair. That being said though, there are some undeniably great tracks on here, and while the album has an occasional misstep, this is by and large a very strong debut full length from the band.
Anyone who spent any time with the EP will immediately feel at home with the appearances of songs like “Whirring”, “Austere” and “Cradle”. In terms of the style of production, there have not been many changes from the prior versions, and honestly again that is not a bad thing as they rocked there, and they rock here. There are some kind of extended “jam” outro takes on some of the old songs that significantly lengthen some of those songs here on the album. I’m not sure that the add-ons really add too much to the songs themselves, as they are less jammy and are more rock noise-outs. They don’t really detract too much though, even though they may be kind of unnecessary for such precisely paced and impactful songs.
As for the new songs, there are some good moments in here, although by and large these are more brooding, plodding songs than the sort of carefree rock outs that we saw on the EP. Some of the standouts are the more methodical numbers like “A Heavy Abacus” and “Buoy”. The dubbed new single “I Don’t Want To See You Like This” is an ok if not schizophrenic song that doesn’t seem to get all the way there for me. For the most part the rest of the new songs kind of feel a little out of place on the album. They certainly feel not to be quite the divine inspiration as those songs from the EP.
While the new songs may not really bolster the album nearly as much as the material from the EP, this is still a solid album, and if you were not exposed to their EP at all, this is still a good album to check out from them. The band clearly has some great talent and some great ability to write some dramatic modern guitar rock songs. You really can’t listen to songs like “Austere” and “Whirring” and not think these guys are seriously on to something. While I wish the new songs hit some more high notes, the album is still very strong with some really good songs on there, and this is definitely a band worth having on your radar going forward.
“Whirring” by The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar
“Austere” by The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar
“I Don’t Want To See You Like This” by The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar
