THE joy formidable

Chelmsford’s monthly indie shindig warms up with DJ Bobby Mushroom. Playing tunes from The Long Blondes, Those Dancing Days and Saint Etienne, he’s the Essex answer to those Twee As Fuck folk who grace the capital’s gigs. Meanwhile local band members prove that this subterranean hole is a place to play and work, as they dish out flyers and dispense CDR gifts to the bar. Across the dance-floor three figures armed with a marker pen are scrawling on the legendary Bitterscene sheet. It’s The Joy Formidable! The names of Ritzy, Rhydian and Justin join the ranks of all the other indie darlings that have blessed The Bitterscene nights over the past six years. The stage is set with fairy lights. Some local band has more than outstayed their welcome and punters want to see what Lamacq and countless others have been raving about. The cutely packaged and peroxide Ritzy bounces on wearing a short skirt and Winnie The Pooh t-shirt, though she’s all Tigger tonight. The bass pounds, guitars soar and Ritzy’s angular delivery on Cradle indulges the basement acoustics. It’s not so much a sonic cathedral - more a blazing arcade. ‘Butterfly’ begins with jaunty echoes of Thomas Tantrum, before crashing into Breeders territory with Rhydian and Ritzy chanting, “it’s a long way home”. Three tracks in and it seems the journey home is already on their mind. A couple of rip-roaring efforts later and Ritzy announces ‘Austere’ as their last song. A finale of “oh oh ohs “ and it’s all over. Six songs! Talk about treat them mean. The Bitterscene is keen but The Joy Formidable are packing up. The pint-sized singer with the blonde bob and her mates exit into the rain soaked suburbs. There ain’t nothing left to see.