New Reunion album “with you in spirit”

At Pity Sex’s Bowery Ballroom show in August, I chat with Steve Hartlett of Ovlov for half an hour in the smoking section, then I run into Jon Simmons of Balance And Composure and tell him I love the new album. It’s hard to believe that all of this will happen in 2024 and not 2014. Additionally, Superheaven and Basement are active again after years of silence. While Emo Nite and When We Were Young Festival are capitalizing on the nostalgia of mainstream emo from the early 2000s, the smaller scene that took place in the early 2010s is being resurrected.

Balance And Calm — debuting in 2011 Separation and its 2013 follow-up The things we think we’re missing are considered classics in this niche – they broke up in 2019 and played a series of farewell shows (as an angsty teenager, I attended those in Brooklyn, Boston and Philly, two of which had Ovlov in opening). Some guessed it was due to the change in musical direction with their third LP, 2016. Light that we createdwhich served as a foray blurring the line between dream pop and shoegaze that many of their peers were experimenting with at the time (Turnover’s Peripheral vision and title fights Hypersight are the first examples of this trend). But Balance And Composure announced their return last year with the two-track single Too quick to forgivewhose sound burst with the menacing chaos of their first two records. Comes now with you in spirittheir fourth album. The lineup still consists of Simmons on vocals, Erik Petersen and Andy Slaymaker on guitars, and Matt Warner on bass, but they are joined by new drummer Dennis Wilson.

Over Zoom, I apologize to Simmons for drunkenly asking him to reunite Title Fight when we met in New York. “I actually worked there. I wrote three letters; I have petitions in preparation,” he jokes. Hailing from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Balance And Composure exists in the same circle as Wilkes-Barre native Title Fight. Simmons sings their praises: “They are the best. It’s probably the band I’ve seen the most in my life. And what’s cool about that is that I want to see them again; I really want to see them again. And I’ve seen them hundreds, hundreds of times, even thousands. That’s how you know a band is good.

Now that Balance And Composure, Pity Sex, Superheaven, Basement and Ovlov are back, it’s almost as if Title Fight are the only band in this scene not returning. When I ask Simmons why he thinks so many bands are getting together, he says, “I think people realized what they had. They’re at a different time in their lives where they can really enjoy and have fun. I think that’s the main thing. You take time away from something that’s a really rare and cool opportunity and you realize what you’re missing and come back to it with a new attitude. It’s a hard thing to let go. This community that we’re a part of – you miss it, and I think you have to be in a good frame of mind when you’re there. I think that’s what all these bands are realizing, and they’re in a better place in their lives and they can have fun again.

Considering how much the hype around Title Fight has grown since their demise (next year marks a decade since their last album, Hypersight), I ask Simmons if he thinks Balance And Composure fans became more obsessed with them after their breakup. “I don’t know,” he laughed. “I didn’t really think about it. I feel like we’re working pretty hard to maintain attention right now. But I guess so, because we did the comeback shows and they were extremely positive, well attended and good. So I think distance makes the heart grow fonder. However, I don’t think I realized it until I played those shows.

As for the difficulty in holding listeners’ attention, Simmons points out that releasing music in 2024 is strange: “There’s a lot of singles, which I’m not used to,” he says of with you in spiritadding that it’s a “strategy developed by the labels, who I assume have the stats and data to back it up.” But apparently that’s how you get people to listen to your band or your songs. There were five singles in total: “with you in spirit”, “cross to Bear”, “Sorrow Machine”, “Any Means” and “Believe the Hype”, making up half of the record. However, there are still plenty of hidden highlights on the album (my favorites include “Ain’t It Sweet” and “A Little Of Myself”).

Balance And Composure may not need to release new music to get noticed. There’s always a chance they’ll get lucky with a viral moment on TikTok; for some reason Basement and Superheaven were blasting old songs. Basement’s 2012 gem, “Covet,” and Superheaven’s 2013 track, “Youngest Daughter,” both transcended the emo sphere; the latter was even sampled by rapper Yeat for the track “GO AGAIN” last month. “I love that they got so much shit for it too. A rapper just sampled you guys; it’s not that serious. People need to calm down,” Simmons says on the matter. “I was actually with Zack (Robbins), their drummer, when they hit 100 million on Spotify for ‘Youngest Daughter.’ And he was so nonchalant. I’m like, ‘Brother, you can officially wear sunglasses indoors.’

It’s hard to say whether these cases have anything to do with the wave of emo nostalgia. Simmons says he is conflicted about the general public’s renewed interest in the genre; “I love the things I used to love and I understand. But I’m just curious…what’s next? I mention hyperpop, even though it’s basically old at this point. Anyway: the hyperpop album Balance And Composure, when? “It’ll probably be about three records into three records, but we’re working on it,” jokes Simmons (haha…unless?).

Balance And Composure were on No Sleep for their first two LPs, before moving to Vagrant for Light that we createdwhich Simmons previously said was “not a good experience.” with you in spirit is on Will Yip’s Memory Music, a match that makes sense since Yip is their producer and probably the most prolific producer in contemporary emo music. He also played a role in the reestablishment of Balance And Composure.

Simmons maintains that he “never wanted to break up.” I just followed what the guys wanted to do,” he explains. “But it broke me in a way. Our very last show in 2019, I was crying at the end, which is embarrassing, but I really wasn’t ready to end it. But that was the case back then, plus we had some issues with our old drummer that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. And we started out as best friends, and it got weird – I don’t mean having an enemy, but it’s like losing a best friend over some stupid shit, and it just left us a very bad taste in the mouth. . We said, “Hang it up; It won’t be what it was.’

He continues: “We played the last few shows with Dennis, our new drummer, and it was so funny because we were really breaking up, but then we realized, ‘Oh, it’s fun now, because we have a new dynamic and attitude from everyone.’ It’s really good and it’s fun again.’ It was really bittersweet. We were breaking up and I was like, “Wait, this is funny now. We didn’t realize the problem before. But the guys wanted to break up, and I was.” just devastated, to be honest. I kept quiet the years we were away Erik sent the first text in 2021 and said, “Let’s get together and just try to write some songs and see what happens. .” So it was a surprise, but I was ready and willing because I really missed it.

The guys started playing again, but only gently. When Yip learned they had what Simmons calls “secret songs,” he bought them into the studio. “Balance and composure have always been the cornerstone of my career and life,” Yip explained via email. “This group means so much to me; I’ve been with them for a long time The things we think we’re missingand we have built something special together over the years. When they went on hiatus in 2019, it felt like a chapter ending too soon, not just for me but for the music community. Getting back together to make music here was so special to me because it wasn’t just about being a fan of them, it was about rekindling a creative partnership that had so much more to give. I truly believe these songs showcase the best of what Balance And Composure has always been: raw, emotional and boundary-pushing.

Throughout his career in Balance And Composure, Simmons worked in an office position at a moving company; when the reunion materialized, he resigned. Throughout Balance And Composure’s hiatus, he was making music under the name Creeks, an acoustic project that he says will last forever. “I think I only do music to have an outlet,” he muses. “I just needed to stay busy and keep doing something because I love playing music, writing music and recording it. I love the connection I make with people who identify with it.

He agrees when I suggest that with you in spirit is the band’s most emo album to date, especially with lyrics like “The king of sorrow has returned to make you proud” on “Sorrow Machine”. “It’s me playing the character,” he explains. “I feel like I have to put up with everything for people to connect to it in some way.” I have to really dig in and sometimes I have to play a role for the listeners.

Despite the grumbles about having “a pain fetish” over “believe the hype”, Simmons says he’s generally a “positive” and “happy” guy. He in no way embodies the archetype of the tortured artist, even if on stage he is like a mystical force screaming before an enraged crowd in what would probably appear to a passerby as a satanic ritual. “I tried therapy for a year when the band broke up, and it helped. But I just felt like I was getting more out of music and art,” he says. “My therapist said to me, ‘I don’t think you need me anymore.’ I was like, “Are you breaking up with me?” »

with you in spirit is turbulent but refined. Since writing began three years ago, the group has had time to add their touch. “It’s a long process, but I like that it took a while because I really had to work on the songs and the lyrics and the melodies,” he says. “I’ve never had this experience before. We usually make a record in three weeks and that’s it, which is cool. But this time I had a lot of time to think about each part, and I had many evenings where I had already recorded the whole song, but then late nights where I was just rewriting the whole song, the melodies , the structure, everything, and then I would be happier with it. So I think I just didn’t want to release something that I wasn’t totally, really proud of and having all that time to make myself crazy about it was nice.

It’s rare for a band to come back from a breakup and sound exactly like they did in their heyday, but Balance And Composure have done it, but they raise the stakes even higher. Believe the hype.

with you in spirit was released on 4/10 on Memory Music.