The Big More

After the celebrated release of its Welsh Music Prize–nominated debut, The Big Roar, the dream-pop trio The Joy Formidable delivers this cool companion EP The Big More. It opens with the catchy cut “Cradle,” where Ritzy Bryan’s Fender Stratocaster drives the tune like a juggernaut of distortion as she animatedly sings over a rhythm section trying to keep up. Fang Island follows with a remix of “Cradle” that sounds as if the New York band snuck into The Joy Formidable’s recording studio, swiped the song’s masters, and took them back to their Brooklyn sound laboratory where weird beats, UFO-sounding synths, backward guitars, and other crazy noises were added to the mix. “Anemone” downshifts into a smoldering song where gauzy guitar ambience accompanies Bryan’s Björk-esque inflections. The song’s last minute offers a surprise explosion of pummeling chords that ring and chime over an orbiting bass and drum kit to make for a panoramic sound. Fans of the band’s stage performances are sure to delight in a live version of “Whirring” before “It’s Over” closes like Siouxsie Sioux gone shoegazer.