Every once in a while, a band comes to one of Washington’s smaller venues and puts on the sort of performance that ensures everyone present that they will never play in a space that small ever again. Last Thursday night, The Joy Formidable put on such a performance, despite the fact that at least part of that sold-out crowd left after the openers had finished.

Admittedly, the Welsh three-piece haven’t yet released enough material to build up a sizable following. Their full-length debut isn’t due out until next year, so part of their set was dedicated to singles and part to material nobody had yet heard. However, they made their presence felt almost immediately. Singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan strutted past her Christmas-light bedecked microphone stand as if commanding the audience to pay her mind before stunning them all with her ethereal voice. That voice complemented, yet stood apart from, a very powerful guitar-rock sound that drew a little from No Wave and even more from My Bloody Valentine. Bryan herself had fifteen pedals at her disposal and Rhydian Dafydd had at least seven more. One patron proclaimed mid-set, “I never realized how much I missed the 90s until now. But this is better.”