No one wants their breakup to become a topic of conversation. No matter how “mutual” it might be, the severing of a relationship between two individuals is emotionally taxing. But that’s what came to be the central theme in most talk surrounding The Joy Formidable’s most recent studio album, last year’s Hitch. After the remarkable success of 2010’s The Big Roar, follow-up Wolf’s Law and a strenuous few years touring, TJF retreated to its home in North Wales. It was around that time that two-thirds of the band, Ritzy Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd, ended their romantic relationship and left fans speculating about the impending demise of the band.
What came, instead, was Hitch. Full of Bryan’s thunderous guitar and offering no attempt at backing down from the group’s obvious worship of ’90s Rock, Hitch made it clear that no amount of heartbrokenness could put an end to TJF. Admittedly, Hitch sometimes felt like Bryan, Dafydd and drummer Matthew Thomas made the album if only for the sake of proving they could. While Wolf’s Law built upon its blistering debut, Hitch seemed to stagnate a little. It was brilliant, but not fresh. What it offered was loud, clearly heartfelt and often spectacular, but it remained littered with songs you’d grow impatient with long before they ended.
Hitch wasn’t the end for The Joy Formidable, though. The band recently released a live album on Bandcamp, Leave No Trace (Live in LA), a solid mix of those first anthems that drew fans in and new tunes the loyal fans still appreciate. It also beautifully showcases the amount of noise the trio can create and promises, hopefully, many more good things to come, regardless of anyone’s current relationship status. It’s also a fairly accurate account of what to expect when they tear through Woodward Theater this week.
