The Joy Formidable
James Minchin
The Joy Formidable is an indie trio that plays their music mostly straight up rock with very little stylistic deviation. They are originally from the town of Mold (= Yr Wyddgrug) in Wales and have been working off of some off-road location in Utah the past few years. Their roots are in a shoegaze meets indie rock sound with all the wall of guitar noise and punchy drums. Some of those tendencies still lurk in some of their instrumentation choices, but otherwise they are locked more into the raw, combustible energy of a dyed in the wool rock band that also exercises a level of discipline and restraint, which turns out to sharpen their work. The songwriting partnership between singer/guitarist Ritz Bryan, who sings in a voice that is vaguely reminiscent of Tanya Donnelly, and bassist Rhydian Dafydd is a fruitful one, and remains the main creative engine of the band.
