Balance and Composure

Too Quick to Forgive [EP] (2023)

RENALDO69

If you've been into the emo-grunge revival of the 2000s and 2010s like me, you would surely know about Pennsylvania's Balance and Composure. The Doylestown five-piece really helped carry the banner with records like Separation and The Things We Think We're Missing. Recently, they put out the Too Quick to Forgive 7" that reminds fans, what's old can return anew, and in fine form at that.

Now, I'll be the first to say I judged their Light We Made LP in 2016 a bit harshly. Granted, it was a stark deviation from grimy, bass-ridden, hook-driven and angsty songs like "Echo," "More to Me," and such. It felt, as "Postcard" indicated, a bit more towards the dance-pop shoegaze vibe that producer Will Yip had a few bands doing as they transitioned sounds. I think accepting that change and how bands experiment and mature, as I get older myself, has prepared me well for this EP.

"Savior Mode" is one of the two tracks, shimmery and really melodic. It feels like the ideal blend of all B&C albums, nailing the -- for want of a better word -- balance sonically. Jon Simmons was as pristine and clean on the mic as ever, which really should augur well for when they do more live shows. I caught them at Riot Fest last year and was glad to hear them sounding so good, and incorporating these tracks as well. Everything felt well complemented.

Which brings me to the final song "Last to Know" -- which has a slow spine a la new era Pianos Become the Teeth, but still, with that crescendo that modern Touché Amoré fans would like. Not too loud, not too angry. Instead: soft burns into far-off explosions in the sky. Which, when you reconcile their discography, is something B&C have been sorely underrated for. To top it off, they put out two trippy videos to remind fans they are comfortable in their own skin, taking it all in patiently, and evolving. Whether you like them or not, or whether you want vintage or more progress, Simmons and Co. have a formula that middles the ground perfectly. In the process, these EP decisively whets the appetite for a new full-length.