The Joy Formidable – A Balloon Called Moaning (10th Anniversary Edition)

A decade on, The Joy Formidable has released an anniversary edition of 'A Balloon Called Moaning', with a whole second disc of the songs acoustic & in their native...
The Joy Formidable : A Balloon Called Moaning (10th Anniversary Edition)
8.0 Hassle
2019 

The Joy Formidable : A Balloon Called Moaning (10th Anniversary Edition)Ten years ago, The Joy Formidable burst onto the scene with the excellent debut EP A Balloon Called Moaning, with seminal epic songs such as “The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade” and single “Whirring”. Now a decade on, the band has released an anniversary edition, with a whole second disc of the songs acoustic & in their native tongue, Welsh.

First things first, A Balloon Called Moaning very much still holds up. The growing power of “Greatest”, “Cradle”, “Whirring” and more still manages to be epic without overdone, a driving authenticity behind them. And with eight songs in over thirty minutes, it’s longer than many so-called full-lengths.

Often anniversary ‘deluxe’ edition re-releases are just attempts to make more money out of the same album, going back to when the band was hot with demos and leftovers that no one really needs. But for Balloon’s anniversary edition, The Joy Formidable recorded brand new versions of the songs, acoustic, and with the lyrics (and song titles) in Welsh. The two changes make for more intimate material, often haunting in singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan’s native brogue.

Ten years is a little short for an anniversary of a record (though more & more acts are doing it these days), especially since everyone’s old material is immediately at one’s fingertips. But The Joy Formidable have managed to make the old new again.

Categories
Album Reviews
Album of the Week