CONCERT REVIEW: Balance and Composure @ Union Transfer 2/21

POSTED: Friday, February 22, 2013, 11:00 AM

Filed Under: Music | Concert Review Philly Bands

By Marc Snitzer

A quick primer:

“Emo” isn’t really a bad word, despite what the last 10 years of Fueled By Ramen and Fearless Records rosters have led many to believe.
A lot of young bands in the Midwest and East Coast have been turning heads with fresh takes on the ’90s emo subgenre. Call it a comeback, maybe. I’m not sure yet.
Doylestown’s Balance and Composure doesn’t exactly fall in line with their peers sonically, but their broad amalgamation of influences from the past two decades secures them as one of the more fascinating among said bands.

Thursday night’s show at Union Transfer, a homecoming for the five-piece, was also their largest headlining date in Philadelphia. Nearing the end of an almost month long tour with support from The Jealous Sound and Daylight, B&C came off as understandably battered. “I’m a little under the weather tonight,” vocalist and guitarist Jon Simmons confessed to the nearly sold out venue a third of the way through their set. It didn’t show at first, as the band tore apart tracks from 2011’s Separation, their split with Scranton-ites Tigers Jaw, and their Only Boundaries EP. They also snuck in a new song from an upcoming split with Braid.

Balance and Composure’s sound is an exercise in control and release, evidenced through their set in songs like “Burden,” “Show Your Face,” and “Quake.” It’s super heavy stuff except when it’s not, with songs often turning on a dime into shoegaze and post-rock territories (see: “Stonehands”). The lava lamp-esque projection behind the band was a nice touch that added to their ‘lock-yourself-in-your-bedroom’ aesthetic.

While Simmons’ performance and Jeff Mangum-reminiscent voice not so slowly depreciated through the night, the rest of the band managed to hold it all together. Drummer Bailey Van Ellis —whom my friend Julie kept reminding me between songs, was “really good” —adds a tribal fervor to Balance and Composure that translates strongly live.

But, man, poor Simmons. He was really toughing it out towards the end, even tagging in a couple friends for mic duties during parts of “Patience” and the incendiary closer “I Tore You Apart In My Head.” His best vocal delivery, however, came midway through the show, in a line from the pensive “Echo” that sums up the band’s pathos and lyrical nudity: “And I’ve been great these last few days / But, oh my God, who gives a shit anyways?”

Posted by Marc Snitzer @ 11:00 AM Permalink | 1 comment

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Comments (1)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:52 AM, 02/22/2013

great review! keep up the good work

— adamali821

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