Review Summary: calendar year 2023
balance and composure are back baby! yes
this record has two songs on it and they are both what is to be expected from a band that have spent the bulk of their adult lives tinkering within the inner circle of american alt emo punk legend.
savior mode weaves effortlessly through the fetid waters of trauma and grief, reading as a text which details how pain's greatest weapon against us is how it keeps our past constantly abreast with the present. here, simmons finds himself in two positions at once. in this song he is very much Going Thru It, but as a listener it is profoundly evident that he's now experienced enough to see where the next great loss will take him in his grief and longing.
although thematically these two tracks are appropriately turbid, the clarity with which they're presented is refreshing. the attack and the twang of the acoustic guitar in
last to know is still crystals amidst the shy busywork of the cosmic synths colouring in the background. when the snare comes in about halfway through, the dynamic isn't caught of balance; though the snare contains within it more punch than a country bar fight, the drumming is dexterous and (dare i say it for an emo band) restrained enough to avoid muscling the more subtle elements out of their rightful place in the mix.
despite the restraint, the record is still
really heavy in a way that feels comforting and familiar, like a weighted blanket, or a funeral dirge. the layers of guitar feedback at the end of the second song harmonizing with each other as the band see themselves out the door is very balance and composure-y in a way that can scarcely be explained. it operates inside a kind of gloom that narrowly avoids the unfurled talons of all the standard adjectives normally ascribed to emo and alternative rock. this is why i think the return of balance and composure beggars a little bit of fanfare.
every now and then i go back to
i tore you apart in my head from 2011's
separation and am struck again by its bare-fanged angst. it's a selfish song -- a *** You Mom and Dad song:
and that's when i knew i was dead
worried sick from all that you said
thank god i'm leaving all your deceiving
you broke me with your ignorance
but it's 2023 now. balance and composure must be in their thirties at least:
so i'll spare you all my emotions this time, this time
now that you might die
i find it selfish to pain you with wanting closure
'cause it's closed, I know
this is the chorus of
savior mode, and it is what good emo bands do when they get old. they reflect on their own behaviours and process their bitterness into modes of communication that ring universal. balance and composure just released a seven-inch in 2023, and upon their return they apologised to me for calling me a b
itch in high school. they were angry, you see. but -- water under the bridge -- they look good now. healthy. balance and composure has a wife (or husband) now. they're in a steady job. they're still depressed (who isn't?), but they're going to therapy and taking their prescribed dose of medication every morning with breakfast. life keeps happening
