{"id":69969,"date":"2018-09-24T16:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T15:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=69969"},"modified":"2018-09-23T18:16:05","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T17:16:05","slug":"review-the-joy-formidable-aaarth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-the-joy-formidable-aaarth\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Joy Formidable \u2013 AAARTH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-69970 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/the-joy-formidable-aaarth-album-artwork.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>There comes a point in many band\u2019s careers where trying something new is the only legitimate option left to turn to. Churning out the similar content time and time again serves no one, artist or fan, and pushing your sound is the best means for progress and retaining interest. For Welsh alt-rock trio <strong>The Joy Formidable<\/strong>, <em>\u2018AAARTH\u2019\u00a0<\/em>is their step into the unknown.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s fourth studio album sees them break free from conventional indie-rock, as they stretch out into the psychedelic. This is largely thanks to the band, in particular, frontwoman Ritzy Brian, uprooting themselves and heading to America\u2019s south-west, where Brian now lives in Utah. As a result, the album carries with it an experimentation of desert-rock that draws on Western themes and aesthetics \u2013 be it the sandy intro to \u2018<em>Cicada (Land On Your Back)\u2019 <\/em>or the plodding, acoustic guitar beneath the zipping slide on<em> &#8216;What For&#8217;<\/em> \u2013 while also veering into Eastern tones with screeching, Sitar-esque guitar through the album\u2019s core.<br \/>\n<iframe title=\"The Wrong Side (Official Music Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VpJfuIcTQUU?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The album\u2019s artwork,\u00a0as well as its peculiar title, represents both the strive for musical vibrancy and expression of lyrical frustration behind the record respectively. The lyrical tone of the album offers a reaction to global socio-political injustices, with the title feeling like a cry of anger that resonates throughout the rest of the record \u2013 like on frantic opener\u00a0<em>\u2018Y Bleun Eira\u2019\u00a0<\/em>and pounding single \u2018<em>The Wrong Side\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For all its aiming to be different,\u00a0<em>\u2018AAARTH\u2019 <\/em>does deliver a fresh sound, but at times feels like it\u2019s trying a little too hard \u2013 take the eccentric<em> &#8216;Dance Of The Lotus&#8217;<\/em> or aforementioned opener for example. As such, the record loses a little direction in favour of being overly experimental. But this is, without question, <strong>The Joy Formidable <\/strong>as you\u2019ve never heard them before, and a leap this big deserves a great amount of credit.<\/p>\n<p>3\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;<\/em>AAARTH<em>&#8216;<\/em> by <strong>The Joy Formidable <\/strong>is released on 28th<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>September on <strong>Hassle Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Joy Formidable <\/strong>links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejoyformidable.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thejoyformidable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joyformidable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/joyformidable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Dylan Tuck (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DylanJTuck\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@DylanJTuck<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;\u2018AAARTH\u2019 is The Joy Formidable&#8217;s step into the unknown.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[15938,5879,15698,240,12220],"class_list":["post-69969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-aaarth","tag-album-reviews","tag-dylan-tuck","tag-hassle-records","tag-the-joy-formidable"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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