The Joy Formidable – Joy, Formidable?

Originating from North Wales, The Joy Formidable are a London based three-piece comprising of girlfriend – boyfriend lead duo, Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd, and drummer Justin Stahley.

The band produce a heady combination of perfectly constructed indie-pop and abject, distortion-drenched feedback, demonstrated on their near perfect debut single ‘Austere’ (released on Another Music = Another Kitchen in August).

Their sound has a sense of purpose and drive that so many new bands lack with hidden depths in both their lyrics and artwork.

The website features a video for ‘Austere’, banned by Youtube, which appears to show a series of people, filmed from the chest up, masturbating or receiving oral sex.

Their artwork also adds a sense of mystery and intrigue to the music, depicting upside-down umbrellas falling from the sky, oversized lamps with eyes and a woman being swept off her feet.

All of these designs are finished in a graphic-style with a deep blue, black and white colour scheme, which distances and attracts the viewer in equal measure.

The same, however, cannot be said for the band’s sound, which has been receiving rave reviews over the past 12 months.

A busy year for The Joy Formidable included appearances at Latitude, Reading and Leeds Festival, running their own remix label and a club night in Kilburn called ‘Joie De Vivre’, touring with White Lies and featuring in the soundtrack to the trailers for Channel 4’s ‘Skins’.

The Joy Formidable look set to make an even bigger impact in 2009 with live Radio 1 and 6 Music sessions and a performance at the NME Awards Show coming either side of the release of their second single ‘Cradles’, which is out on the 2nd February.