Balance and Composure

After two Doylestown, Pennsylvania bands dissolved, Balance & Composure assembled in 2007. Jon Simmons handles guitar and vocals, Andy Slaymaker covers guitar and vocals, Erik Petersen plays guitar, Matt Warner manages bass, and Bailey Van Ellis sits behind the drums; all five had already established themselves on the regional indie circuit. The musicians shaped a potent, gritty fusion of emo, hardcore, and post-grunge. They issued the I Just Want to Be Pure EP in 2008 and followed it with Only Boundaries the next year. Their first full-length, Separation, surfaced in 2011. The Things We Think We're Missing arrived in 2013 and peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Top 200. Balance & Composure then delivered their third studio album, the long-awaited Light We Made, in 2016, folding electronic textures into the overall sound.