Balance and Composure returned from hiatus last year with two new songs and live shows, and now they’ve announced their first new album since 2016’s Light We Made. Titled With You In Spirit, it was made with longtime collaborator Will Yip and it comes out on October 4 via Will’s Memory Music label (pre-order). First single “Cross to Bear” is out now, and it’s an excellent first taste. Check out its Drew Horen-directed video below.
After pushing their grungy post-hardcore about as far as it could go on 2013’s The Things We Think We’re Missing, Balance took their music in a more R&B-infused art rock direction on Light We Made, a stylistic departure that was divisive at the time, and the confusion from fans was at least one factor that contributed to the band needing a break, but that ahead-of-its-time album has aged really well, and I for one am pleased to hear that “Cross to Bear” picks up where Balance left off and keeps pushing forward. It’s an airy, brooding, suspenseful song that’s as much Kid A as it is Manchester Orchestra, fused together in the way that only Balance and Composure can.
“I truly believe that this is the best collection of Balance and Composure songs there’s ever been,” says Will Yip. “It has the heavy stuff, it has the fast stuff, it has the groovy stuff. It has everything they’ve worked on over the last 12 years.”
Singer/guitarist Jon Simmons says he “began to feel like a kid again” when the band returned to writing new material. “We were writing these songs for the pure reason of having an outlet and getting together with your friends, no pressure. We were longing for it, and we found it as soon as we got together. We didn’t want that train to stop.”
Balance have also announced a short tour for this October with support from longtime friends Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band LA’s shoegazy MILLY. The tour begins in NYC on October 3 at Brooklyn Paramount. All dates are listed below.
Before the October tour, Balance play a one-off at Asbury Park’s Stone Pony on June 26, and then they head to the UK for Outbreak Fest.
MILLY have a new album on the way, and they also have upcoming shows supporting Basement, Fiddlehead/Gel, and Idaho, as well as a headlining show at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere Zone One on 7/24 with Lola Star.
UPDATE: Just hours later, Balance released a second new song! This one’s called “Sorrow Machine” and it’s another great one that gets a little heavier than “Cross to Bear.” Check out the song and its Dessie Jackson-created video below.
Tracklist
1. restless
2. ain’t it sweet
3. any means
4. cross to bear
5. believe the hype
6. lead foot
7. sorrow machine
8. a little of myself
9. closer to god
10. with you in spirit