THE JOY FORMIDABLE - INTO THE BLUE
Using their music as a way to silence the overwhelming noise of the world around them, Into The Blue is the band’s most personal and intimate record yet
It’s been 2 years since The Joy Formidable released their last album AARTH. Since then, the band have been busy, playing the main stage at Reading/Leeds, touring the US with Foo Fighters and playing at Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival.
Now the band return with their eagerly anticipated album Into The Blue, a record that has already received a rave response from the likes of Rolling Stone, NME, BBC 6 Music and Radio 1.
Using their music as a way to silence the overwhelming noise of the world around them, Into The Blue is the band’s most personal and intimate record yet, with traces of darkness and huge amounts of passion woven throughout the 11 powerful tracks. As the band themselves describe it, the album is about “making it to the other side” and the tracks tell a clear story of defiance in the face of trauma, and living life with strength and perseverance.
The first single from the album, ‘Back To Nothing’ sends a powerful message of self-love, understanding your worth and creating healthy boundaries. A dreamy track led by lead singer Ritzy Bryan’s gentle and evocative vocals, the song declares the importance of making sure that this love and understanding of yourself must be upheld, no matter what. The repeated motif “I won’t go back to nothing” solidifies the message that this is, truly, where a person’s power lies and, without it, what else do we have?
Title track ‘Into the Blue’ is about being brave enough to embark on new journeys in life, and the excitement of discovering something unexpected along the way, even if it’s not wholly welcome: ‘Because things go bad/but it’s real and there/Better than slowly emptying me’. Driving guitar and unexpected chord sequences add a sense of urgency and mystery to the song, and the accompanying music video beautifully evoke the idea of the joy and fear of life and how the two are so often intertwined and inseparable. ‘Don’t fear the move out of the past/Let time take your hand and guide you/It’s time to move into the Blue once again’.
‘Gotta Feed My Dog’ takes on an altogether different sound to the other tracks on the album, with Bryan’s vocals nothing more than a whisper, explaining that she doesn’t have time to get into a relationship she thinks will turn bad, because she has to go and feed her dog. With the instruments providing a dissonant and frantic soundscape, more than a solid and structured melody this stand out song reeks of tongue in cheek cynicism and ties in beautifully with the previous songs that speak of self-love and empowerment, with lyrics that speak of a woman who is too invested in herself and her own life and happiness to fall into the trap of a doomed relationship with someone else. As they say, the longest relationship you’ll ever have is the one you have with yourself, so you’ve got to make it a great one!
Into The Blue is a fantastic, feel good, confidence inspiring album. Full of self-assuredness and joy, the album is a clear journey through the band’s own experiences of feeling unaccepted and misunderstood and turning them into self-love and power. They’ve clearly had battles – the same battles as many of us – and have come out on top, emerging happier, more confident and ready to embrace life. Whatever it may throw at them.
Jess Distill
★★★★☆