James Minchin
In hindsight, the whiplash was probably inevitable.
After spending the early part of the year touring in support of Sleep is Day, an EP that featured the Welsh trio performing acoustic versions of several of their songs, The Joy Formidable is back on the road again. Now they are delivering their familiar full-on-fury with Hitch, their most recent full-length release. The band’s slated to hit the High Noon Saloon on June 21.
“We’ve been in rehearsal, and we’ve even forgotten about the volume,” laughs Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan, the band’s guitarist and lead singer, calling from Nashville the day before the tour’s launch. “We’re like, ‘Holy shit, we’re pretty loud.’”
True that. Walls of ‘90s-era sound have been The Joy Formidable’s stock-in-trade since the band burst onto the alternative scene back in 2011 with The Big Roar. The band members would be justified in feeling a little whiplashed after a well-publicized dissolution of the long-term relationship between Bryan and Joy co-founder/childhood pal Rhydian Dafydd; the two officially split before retreating to Wales to record Hitch, the band’s third album. It’s the kind of life event that would have imploded almost any other band. Instead, it’s revealed a way forward for a trio of musicians that’s been recording and touring for nearly a decade now.
Bryan is honest and forthcoming on the topic.
“When we were on the cusp of breaking up, it was difficult to gauge,” she recalls. “There was a short period of grief. We were kind of like a family, kind of like a marriage. With that, there’s a lot that can go wrong.”
Much of that creative and personal uncertainty is reflected on Hitch’s dozen songs, particularly in the quiet contemplation of “Don’t Let Me Know,” the slowly swelling ballad that closes the disc.
“Hitch was talking about change, getting through change. There’s a sense on the record of feeling lost. We felt isolated during the recording. But we’re both friends and musical collaborators,” says Bryan of Dafydd. “We have a good push. Now it’s just lost a lot of that shitty baggage.”
Neither Hitch nor this tour are the end of the line for The Joy Formidable. In fact, the band is already well into recording a fourth album, a release we won’t likely see until next year. Bryan says it’s entirely different than the last two, more spontaneous and performance-based. “Rough and ready” are the adjectives she reaches for.
“We’re getting up in the middle of the night and throwing down some crazy shit,’ she says. “It feels very fun.”