Hitch

Hitch is an embodiment of bold rock dynamics. Over the album’s robust run time, The Joy Formidable take great care to keep the energy level strong. They shoot for the rafters one minute with electric, sweeping alt-pop on “Radio of Lips,” and craft a more intimate ambience the next with the delicate piano, acoustic guitar, and soft swells of “Underneath the Petal.” When the two aesthetics come together—like on the dreamy yet explosive finale “Don’t Let Me Know”—it feels like two planets colliding.