Then they announced a show at a local venue called Revolution Bar. I didn’t do too much digging into them after that. “Defeat The Low” is tame, Jon Simmons’ vocals struck me as distinct and calming, and I adored the way the song turns into a kind of chant only about 30 seconds in. I wasn’t ready for the constant yelling and absolutely relentless anger of their hit “I Tore You Apart In My Head” - it was too much for me. I don’t know why it was that song I found first it’s what someone would call a deep cut. The first song I heard by Balance And Composure was the last on Separation, “Defeat The Low,” probably in the mid-2010s. I started first with mainstream pop punk bands I won’t name, and then ended up obsessing over Joyce Manor and La Dispute. It would take my depression and anxiety to settle in a couple of years later until I turned to emo for solace. I was 10 and listening to Taylor Swift on Long Island or something. The experience of Separation was not singular in any way it was riding the collective wave of post-hardcore songs reflecting on how much life sucks, essentially.Īnyway, I was not there for that era. It was unveiled amongst a flood of other similar records: Title Fight’s Shed, La Dispute’s Wildlife, Touche Amore’s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me. I’m sure everyone was well-acquainted with them there before this first record. If you want to get even more specific, they’re from the same town - Doylestown - as the ever-elusive, cult-followed Superheaven. It was their debut, but they were in an emo hotspot in Pennsylvania alongside Tigers Jaw (who they released a split with a year earlier), Title Fight, and The Menzingers. Andrew recently reminisced about their golden era - ten years ago, when Separation, which some consider their magnum opus, came out on No Sleep Records. When it comes to Balance And Composure, I was late. There’s a time and place for every scene and genre, but especially for emo.

Balance and composure new album