The Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning

Label: Pure Groove Release Date: out now Website: www.thejoyformidable.bigcartel.com/ Having grown up in North Wales myself I know all too well the complete lack of music scene there and personally couldn’t wait to get to a city where you get to see something other than X-Factor finalists or that bloke from the Alarm. Luckily for them after doing a bit of local gigging and recording,  The Joy Formidable moved down from the lovely Mold, and have been wowing the Londoners ever since with their uplifting indie rock. They’ve just released their first album ‘A Balloon Called Moaning’ through Pure Groove Records to an expectant audience. The opening track ‘The greatest light is the greatest shade’  is for me a bit of a treat as it enters traditional shogaze territory with a big warm blanket of dreamy guitars and sweet girl vocals reminiscent of Asobi Seksu (who, as a side note if you haven’t heard, I would heartily recommend) It’s not all wall of sound though, and there are songs such as ‘Austere’ that cross over to stomping catchy pop tracks. The kind that are maybe borderline cheesy,  but impossible not  to turn up loud and annoy the neighbours with. They definitely know how to create an exhilarating tune with really great powerful bass lines and layers of childlike vocals courtesy of Ritzy Bryan. There’s something about a really sweet sounding voice singing over the top of some very loud guitars that just works for me and this fits the bill nicely. ‘9669’ is the only acoustic type track on the album and I’m not really sure why it’s there. Yeah it’s quite nice but It feels like they’ve crowbarred it in just to prove they can do a ballad, it sticks out though and I think it’s one that I’d skip past every time I listened to the album. ‘The Last Drop’ on the other hand is the one that really stayed with me and I keep coming back to. It’s nothing new or innovative but it’s just a great, energetic, catchy and - dare I say it - euphoric rock track. I’m not just saying this because they are Welsh,  but there are a few moments in ‘A Balloon Called Moaning’ that are definitely reminiscent of early Feeder. The louder bits anyway. This is no way a criticism though and I think with continued support these three will get a bit more exposure this year and we’ll all be seeing a lot more of them. I’m definitely going to catch them live in the summer and shall be at the front attempting to rock out a bit with the Indie Kids. Rating: 6.5/10