The Joy Formidable Writes Wolf's Law

The Welsh-raised, London-based the Joy Formidable turned heads last year with The Big Roar. This year, the roar is even bigger as the trio releases Wolf's Law, which adds confidence to the already convincing mix of brisk and dangerously addictive alternative rock dished up by Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Dafydd (bass, backing vocals), and Matt Thomas (drums, percussion).

Producer Andy Wallace (Nirvana, The Misfits, Avenged Sevenfold) deserves props too. The vocals and guitar were recorded in Maine. The drums, orchestra, and choir were added in London. No one would ever know it based on what they laid down — 11 tracks with all the veracity of The Big Roar albeit with much more polish.

This wasn't written in retreat like previous outings. It's grand, grown up, and without any dirt. In doing so, the Joy Formidable took on a new risk as the grit is what attracted plenty of people before.

The Joy Formidable grows up with Wolf's Law. 

Despite the more commercial aspects of the album, with simplified songwriting, the Joy Formidable has kept everything that counts. The guitars still buzz. The percussion still pounds. Everything is preserved that makes this surging power trio stick, right down to the diversity of Bryan's vocal delivery.

The Ladder Is Ours, which opens the album, is a prime example. It starts with an easy orchestral open that winds up everything tight before the band breaks into the bristling, loud, and strangely beautiful and dreamlike qualities of Bryan's voice. The song teeters between soothing and unabashed.



The video, like any released by the band in the support of the album, is a big production like the music.  Cholla is even better, with a bigger and bassier foundation. It fits the lyrics, the breakdown of a relationship that has hit a standstill.

Cholla also nails one of the aspects of the band that continues to make them a standout. As the song barrels ahead, the trio tightens it all up midstream by dropping everything back to a near silent status. The whisper of it is as powerful as the big sound they deliver. So where are they going? Big.

After pulling back on Tendons and Little Blimp, Bats powers up simple lyrics and a bipolar instrumental. It's one of the more underrated tracks on the album, partly because the lyrics are so repetitive, but it;s the heaviness behind it that brings the band closer to the abruptness that ensures they don't sink into any sameness.

The growing diversity in their arsenal rocks and rolls.

On the other end of the spectrum is Silent Treatment, with Bryan quietly sharing a lullaby of the song. Hearing it live is even more powerful because the acoustics are so much more pronounced, but the studio session still captures the folk-like qualities of a song about how much someone is willing to take and still hang on.

Silent Treatment is a remarkable track to usher in Maw Maw Song. The track is transfixed on tribal rhythms and sweeping melodies to carry it. What makes Maw Maw Song work is it contains some of the best guitar noodling ever put out by the band and creates a thunderous atmosphere that is anthemic.

The track proves that although the Joy Formidable is more polished, they aren't any less experimental. If you ever wondered what metallic prog might sound like if it were played by an alternative pop-rock trio, then Maw Maw Song is probably it. It's also likely to become their biggest callout song on tour.

Also under reviewed is the hidden track Wolf's Law, which cuts in on the closer The Turnaround. For me, it was one of the most smashing moments on the album and probably a mistake to bury it. Wolf's Law deserves to be its own track and the video makes it right.



Forest Serenade and The Hurdle both tap some sounds from the band's earlier stylings without as much grit, making for solid bookends for the spiraling six-minute anthem The Leopard And The Lung. Plenty of people have called it a favorite and then deliver oddball criticisms, claiming it's too long. Any shorter and the atmosphere of it would have never materialized. Period.

Wolf's Law By The Joy Formidable Breaks 8.8 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

You know a brand is headed in the right direction when half the rabble is disappointed because it's not hard enough and other half is lamenting that it could have been harder. True, I miss the dirt too. But in the greater context of their repertoire, the Joy Formidable has only sharply added to its tenacity and its addictive live performances.

Wolf's Law by the Joy Formidable is available on Amazon and can be downloaded from iTunes. For added richness, consider the vinyl version from Barnes & Noble. The band is currently touring in Europe with plans to hit the United Kingdom in February and the United States in March. Check schedules via Facebook.

The Joy Formidable Makes A Big Roar

There is something undeniably earthy about the pop-rock delivered up by Welsh-raised, London-based The Joy Formidable. No matter that their time on stage was cut down from what the band was due, many people at SXSW discovered the deep-seeded charismatic energy of Ritzy Bryan (vocals, guitar), Rhydian Dafydd (bass, backing vocals), and Matt Thomas (drums, percussion).

Although without the feedback rained down during live performances, The Big Roar is an album that makes them a heavy-rotation standard for anyone who enjoys vibrant pop vocals set on fire with immensely heavy guitar textures.

It's almost unbelievable that Bryan and Dafydd grew up in the rural Welsh countryside. Until you find out that someone's parents liked to play music loud. The it all comes together after that. Once they drop their soft smiles, they play with feral veracity.

The Big Roar was written in retreat, much like the original tracks.

After spending less than six months together, they duo stomped out enough material for their first album. Their first single was released in 2008, which was followed up by an eight-track EP filled with what they love — dirty, loud, rhythmic guitars and thick bass lines.

"Some of them start [with acoustics]. Some start just as lyrics, some as drumbeats, guitar riffs. We swap up the way that we write all the time," Bryan said in an interview with Clash Music. "Some of it comes from Rhydian first, some of it comes from me first and some of it comes literally from just pissing about in rehearsal."


The reason Whirring seems so big is it breaks up the monistic expectations of a pop song, allowing it to break into a full-fledged heavy hemorrhaging of gutsy indie-infused rock. It builds, breaks down, builds again, and climaxes. We picked the live version to capture the electricity of the band, but the animated video is big fun to watch too.

Everything about The Big Roar works too. Their escapes to a small London apartment in between a heavy tour session paid dividends. Starting with the epic near 8-minute The Everychanging Spectrum Of A Lie through the broody, low-tone belts of The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade, there's not a track to skip.

A few early breakthroughs are redone.

While anyone who loved A Balloon Called Moaning, it's obvious some of the tracks are the same and different at the same time. Basically, they reworked how some of them play after picking up four years of experience on the road and whole lot more raw energy. My favorite off the album is easily I Don't Want To See You Like This with its downplayed chorus and powerful lyrics.

A few people didn't care for the shoegaze-grunge hybrid as the Guardian called it, but writing from the small confines of a cubicle is a bit different than standing in the sweaty enclave of a concert hall anytime Bryan starts beating on her guitar. Ahem, Guardian reviewer. Get out more.

I won't go so far in the other direction as to overindulge in review lines that claim everybody else is mediocre. We seem to find some gems in the heap (some weeks tougher than others). But even among those that sparkle, few are as strikingly steady enough to be a triumph like The Big Roar.

The Joy Formidable Cracks With A Roaring 9.2 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

The Joy Formidable is a brisk and dangerous exercise in sweeping anyone who listens under wave after wave of heavily played riffs that seldom slow down. Trust me on this. Anybody who sees them live will develop an addiction. Your best chance to catch them stateside is right now. They are touring from coast to coast through April 29 before returning to London and then hitting their hometown with an additional concert in Germany.

The Big Roar can be downloaded from iTunes or from the link to Amazon. Barnes & Noble also carries The Big Roar. File it under someone to watch in 2011. They leave a mark.