FREEking Formidable!

I've been meaning to post about The Joy Formidable ever since I caught a section of their BBC Introducing set at this year's Reading Festival but they never quite reached the upper echelons of my to do list. Now they've decided to give their debut LP "A Balloon Called Moaning" away for free I can no longer justify my procrastination.

In the fields of Berkshire, the initial attraction was to Ritzy Bryan's vocals which held an instantly enviable nature of appearing simulataneously pure, jagged and imbued with character. This is even more evident on record and fits perfectly when layered over the shoegazing guitars and illusory melodies. The album is urgent, exhillirating, challenging and is already one of my highlights of the year.

Have a listen to "Cradle",



then cut and paste this link to download the full album:

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=122&p=5719&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#more5719