At Pity Sex’s Bowery Ballroom show in August, I talk with Steve Hartlett of Ovlov for a half hour in the smoking section then bump into Jon Simmons of Balance And Composure and tell him I love the new record. It’s hard to believe this is all happening in 2024 and not 2014. In addition, Superheaven and Basement are active again after years of being quiet. While Emo Nite and When We Were Young Festival are busy capitalizing off of the nostalgia for early 2000s mainstream emo, the smaller scene that took place in the early 2010s is being resuscitated.

Balance And Composure — whose 2011 debut Separation and its 2013 follow-up The Things We Think We’re Missing are considered classics in that niche — broke up in 2019 and played a batch of farewell shows (I, as an angsty teenager, attended the ones in Brooklyn, Boston, and Philly, two of which had Ovlov as an opener). Some guessed it was due to the change in musical direction with their third LP, 2016’s Light We Made, which served as a foray blurring the line between dream pop and shoegaze that many of their peers were experimenting with at the time (Turnover’s Peripheral Vision and Title Fight’s Hyperview are early examples of the trend). But Balance And Composure announced their return last year with the two-track single Too Quick To Forgive, whose sound erupted with the menacing mayhem of their first two records. Now comes with you in spirit, their fourth album. The lineup is still Simmons on vocals, Erik Petersen and Andy Slaymaker on guitars, and Matt Warner on bass, but they’re joined by the new drummer Dennis Wilson.

Over Zoom, I apologize to Simmons for drunkenly asking him to get Title Fight back together during our encounter in NYC. “I’ve been working on it, actually. I’ve written three letters; I got some petitions in the works,” he quips. Hailing from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Balance And Composure exist in the same circle as Title Fight, who come from Wilkes-Barre. Simmons sings their praises: “They are the best. That’s probably the band I’ve seen the most in my lifetime. And what’s so cool about that is I crave to see them again; I want to see them again so badly. And I’ve seen them hundreds, hundreds of times, if not thousands. That’s how you know a band is good.”

Now that Balance And Composure, Pity Sex, Superheaven, Basement, and Ovlov are back, it’s almost like Title Fight is the only band from that scene that hasn’t returned. When I ask Simmons why he thinks so many bands are reuniting, he offers, “I think people realized what they had. They’re at a different point in their lives where they can really appreciate it and have fun. I think that’s the main thing. You take some time away from something that is a really rare and cool opportunity and you realize what you’re missing and come back to it with a new attitude. It’s a hard thing to let go. This community we are a part of — you just miss it, and I think you gotta be in a right state of mind when you’re in it. I think that’s what all these bands are realizing, and they’re in a better place in their lives and they can have fun again.”

Considering how exponentially the hype for Title Fight has grown since they disappeared (next year will be a decade since their last album, Hyperview), I ask Simmons if he thinks Balance And Composure fans became more obsessed with them when they were broken up. “I don’t know,” he laughs. “I haven’t really thought about that. I feel like we’re working pretty hard to keep attention going right now. But I guess yeah, because we did the comeback shows and they were overwhelmingly positive and well-attended and good. So I think distance does make the heart grow fonder. I don’t think I realized that until we played those shows, though.”

As for struggling to keep the attention of listeners, Simmons stresses that releasing music in 2024 is strange: “There’s a lot of singles, which I’m not used to,” he says about with you in spirit, adding that it’s a “strategy made by labels, which I guess they have the statistics and the data to back it up. But apparently that’s how you get people to listen to your band or your songs anymore.” There have been five total singles: “with you in spirit,” “cross to bear,” “sorrow machine,” “any means,” and “believe the hype,” accounting for half of the record. However, there are still plenty of highlights tucked away on the album (my favorites include “Ain’t It Sweet” and “A Little Of Myself”).

Balance And Composure might not have to release new music to get noticed. There’s always the chance they will strike lucky with a viral TikTok moment; for some reason, Basement and Superheaven have had old songs blow up. Basement’s 2012 gem “Covet” and Superheaven’s 2013 tune “Youngest Daughter” have both transcended the emo sphere; the latter was even sampled by rapper Yeat for the track “GO AGAIN” last month. “I love that they got so much shit for it, too. A rapper just sampled you guys; it’s not that big a deal. People need to calm down,” Simmons says about it. “I was actually with Zack [Robbins], their drummer, when they hit 100 million on Spotify for ‘Youngest Daughter.’ And he was so nonchalant. I’m like, ‘Bro, you can officially wear sunglasses inside.’”

It’s hard to say if these instances have anything to do with the wave of emo nostalgia. Simmons says he’s conflicted about the mainstream’s revived interest in the genre; “I like stuff I used to like and I get it. But I’m just curious… what’s next?” I mention hyperpop, though that’s basically old at this point. Either way: Balance And Composure hyperpop album when? “That’s probably like three records from now, but we are working on it,” Simmons jokes (haha… unless?).

Balance And Composure were on No Sleep for their first two LPs, before switching to Vagrant for Light We Made, which Simmons previously stated was “not a good experience.” with you in spirit is on Will Yip’s Memory Music, a match that makes sense since Yip is their producer and probably the most prolific producer in contemporary emo music. He also played a role in getting Balance And Composure back together.

Simmons maintains that he “never wanted to break up ever. I was just going with what the guys wanted to do,” he explains. “But it broke me in a way. Our very last show in 2019, I was weeping at the end, which is embarrassing, but I really was not ready to be done. But they were at the time, and plus we had some issues with our old drummer that left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. And we started as best friends, and it turned into this weird — I don’t want to say having an enemy kind of thing, but like losing a best friend over some stupid shit, and it just left a really bad taste in our mouths. We were like, ‘Let’s just hang it up; it’s not going to be what it used to be.'”

He continues, “We played the final shows with Dennis, our new drummer, and it was so funny because we were really breaking up but then we realized, ‘Oh, this is fun now, because we have a new dynamic, and everyone’s attitude is really good and it’s fun again.’ It was really bittersweet. We were breaking up, and I was like, ‘Wait, this is fun now.’ We didn’t realize the problem before. But the guys did want to break up, and I was just devastated about it, to be honest. I stayed quiet the years that we were away. Erik sent the first text in 2021 and was like, ‘Let’s get together and just try to write songs and see what happens.’ So that was a surprise, but I was ready and willing because I really missed it.”

The guys started jamming out again, but only on the down-low. When Yip heard that they had what Simmons refers to as “secret songs,” he got them in the studio. “Balance And Composure has always been a cornerstone in my career and my life,” Yip shared over email. “This band represents so much to me; I’ve been with them since before The Things We Think We’re Missing, and we’ve built something special together over the years. When they went on hiatus in 2019, it felt like a chapter closing too soon, not just for me but for the music community. Getting back together making music again in here was so special for me because it wasn’t just about being a fan of them, it was about reviving a creative partnership that had so much more to give. I genuinely believe these songs showcase the best of what Balance And Composure has always been — raw, emotional, and boundary-pushing.”

For his entire career in Balance And Composure, Simmons held an office job at a moving company; when the reunion materialized, he quit. Throughout the Balance And Composure hiatus, he was making music as Creeks, an acoustic project he says will last forever. “I do think I make music solely for the reason to have an outlet,” he reflects. “I just needed to stay busy and keep doing something because I love playing music, writing music, recording it. I like the connection I build with people who identify with it.”

He agrees when I propose that with you in spirit is the band’s most emo record yet, especially with lyrics like, “The king of sorrow has returned to make you proud” on “sorrow machine.” “That’s me playing the character,” he expounds. “I feel like I have to bear everything for people to connect with it in some way. I have to really dig and sometimes I have to play a role for listeners.”

Despite snarling about having “a fetish for suffering” on “believe the hype,” Simmons says he is generally “positive” and “happy” guy. He does not in any way embody the tortured artist archetype, though onstage he is like a mystical force bellowing before a rabid crowd in what would probably appear to a passerby as a Satanic ritual. “I tried therapy for a year when the band was broken up, and it helped. But I just felt like I get more out of music and art,” he says. “My therapist was like, ‘I don’t think you need me anymore.’ I was like, ‘Are you breaking up with me?’”

with you in spirit is turbulent but refined. Since the writing began three years ago, the band had time to put their touches on it. “It’s a long process, but I love that it took a while to because I got to really, really work on the songs and lyrics and the melodies,” he says. “I’ve never had that experience before. We usually cut a record in three weeks and that’s it, which is cool. But this time, I had a lot of time to think about every part, and I had many late nights where I had the whole song recorded already, but then late nights where I would just rewrite the whole song, melodies, structure, everything, and then I’d be more happy with it. So I think I just didn’t want to put out something I wasn’t totally, really proud of and having all that time to drive myself insane about it was good.”

It’s rare that a band comes back from a breakup and sounds exactly how they did at their peak, but Balance And Composure did it, only they’re raising the stakes even higher. Believe the hype.

with you in spirit is out 10/4 on Memory Music.