The album then spirals and gets progressively mellower, reaching its lowest point in “Dirty Head,” a stripped down acoustic song that is anything but the “acoustic ballad” seen toward the end of most rock records.

Sporadic drums accompany downbeats and the big hits that come on-off, creating auditory tension that mirrors Simmons’ last vocal line, a simple question, “Reflection / who do I really see?”

Tracing their methodical melody at that same cut time, you can hear that the swinging refrain remains. With headphones in and a keen ear, you can follow guitar leads as they pan from ear bud to ear bud. As the bass drives the main parts of the song, the layering of guitars stands out. “Reflection,” which is probably the band’s best song on any release, builds on a swinging, major-oriented guitar riff that leads into a lofty yet heavy chorus. It certainly isn’t your average pop, but there is something to be said about an emotional expression that is polished and collected, and that is not to say that these musical arrangements can’t be beautiful.

Simmons screams, “I could have sworn that you knew my conscious was not clean,” inviting you to join him in his angsty and brutally honest lyrical concoction.Īs with a lot of the music in this scene, there isn’t much “happy” about it. The track immediately picks up with 16 note guitar chords, a relaxed yet driving drum beat, and Simmons’ apprehensive vocals. The altering dispositions are most evident in songs like “Cut Me Open.” The picked, simple guitar melody lingers as the drums tick like a clock in the background. Even in their earlier releases, Balance and Composure built their sound off the same soft-to-loud dynamic seen in early 90s emo and, later, on albums like Brand New’s “The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me.” That extreme dynamic is present the rest of the album as well. His juxtaposing emotions work throughout the song, creating a simultaneously heart-pumping and haunting effect. Singer Jon Simmons alternates between his Cobain-like, aggressive vocals and his haunting, softer side. The album opens with the single guitar line of “Parachutes,” and the song quickly erupts into a wall of sound reminiscent of late Nirvana and early Sunny Day Real Estate. Thriving in a local scene that has produced bands like Circa Survive, Title Fight, and Tiger’s Jaw, “The Things We Think We’re Missing,” rips through its 13 tracks with all the energy and angst of a generation that never stopped being pissed off. 10 release, “The Things We Think We’re Missing,” is just that. Post-hardcore, post-punk, emo, grunge-revival: call it what you will, but there are still plenty of bands out there making loud, aggressive, emotionally charged music. Perhaps not punk in the traditional sense, Balance and Composure’s second full-length album is representative of a scene that is still going strong. Living in Isla Vista, it’s especially easy to get lost in all the EDM, hip-hop, and pseudo-folk that seem to dominate front porches and back yards it’s easy to forget that a scene, one that many thought had died out, is still very much alive. With the start of a new school year, we also see the end of the “summer anthem,” the super-catchy, pop-y, light, feel-good songs that define summers for many.

Balance and composure break up