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EXCLUSIVE: Joy Formidable Live in London

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Welsh alt-rockers the Joy Formidable are one of SPIN’s must-hear bands at next month’s South by Southwest fest in Texas, and there they’ll celebrate the March 15 U.S. release of The Big Roar, their debut full-length. The LP is exactly as its title advertises: a brash howl of an album, featuring dynamic singer-guitarist Ritzy Bryan and the growling low-end of bassist Rhydian Dafydd and drummer Matt Thomas. Check out a performance of their song “Whirring,” recorded at London’s Sarm Studios, below.

The cut first appeared on the band’s breakthrough EP, A Balloon Called Moaning, but has since been expanded to a six-minute opus for Roar, with the original’s taut pop sound sandwiched between fuzzy swells of feedback and atmospherics.

“It was just a great opportunity to capture what a beast that song has turned into live, and be very truthful to it,” Bryan tells SPIN about re-recording the song. “We just set up exactly as we would do a gig and played the end section as it’s evolved over 18 months of touring together.”

Their next stretch of U.S. dates kicks off at SXSW, a longtime dream for Bryan: “We’ve been wanting to play there since we formed, really, and we’ve always wanted it to coincide with having a record to celebrate. There’s so many great bands there. I’m looking forward to going as a punter as much as playing it.”

Watch the video below, and tell us what you think in the comments. To see the band’s U.S. tour dates, click here.

WATCH: The Joy Formidable, “Whirring”