Joy Formidable Avoid Focusing on Band Romance

There's a reason none of the Joy Formidable's songs are about the romantic relationship between singer-guitarist Ritzy Bryan and bassist Rhydian Dafydd: When the Welsh rockers sit down to write, they have better things to talk about.

"There have been other things that have taken precedent with the voice of the band beyond the relationship," Bryan tells Spinner. "Whatever you write, there are going to be lots of different levels, consciously or not, that creep in there. But I honestly can't say it's a focus in terms of writing for this band."

"We're not angsty enough," she adds. "Maybe if something f---s up."

Bryan and Dafydd may be angst-free lovers, but their music is hardly carefree. The Joy Formidable's debut EP, 'A Balloon Called Moaning,' is a bombastic bubblegum-Goth gem, filled with songs whose vagueness is matched only by their intensity.

"The music as a whole -- there are a lot of moments where it feels we're writing about something that's really triumphant, and sometimes it's really tragic," Bryan says.

If her relationship with Dafydd has yet to become an explicit subject of the band's songs, it's had a definite effect on how the music is created.

"It's quite difficult to talk about, because we've known each other so long in a nonromantic sense," Bryan says. "It certainly helps the songwriting, the way the relationship has developed. When you write with someone else, it's quite an intimate relationship. The beauty of our arrangement is there is that completely almost intuitive element these days."

While Bryan expects journalists to ask questions about their relationship, she insists there's more to the Joy Formidable than its internal romance.

"I never want to avoid it as an issue, because it obviously is an integral part of our dynamic," she says. "But I think it's not something to be over-dwelled on, either."