Austin’s Catch Your Breath brought its Not Broken Enough tour to Atlanta’s Tabernacle, headlining an evening with a stacked lineup that offered ridiculous value for a night out, leaving extra cash for merch, which certainly didn’t suffer for a lack of customers.
Catch Your Breath’s songs aren’t formulaic, but they consistently deliver emotionally charged vocals, heavy guitar work, and enormous choruses. Their recorded music is heavily tracked, with atmospheric washes and some of the vocal layers reproduced through backing tracks. It doesn’t distract, because your ear wants to hear the familiar, but it does beg the question of how a less layered, rawer version of their songs might connect.
That’s not for everyone, though, and the production values were stellar, including the orchestrated lighting. Crowd surfing had been hinted at during TX2, but for Catch Your Breath it became an almost constant flow down the middle of the floor, with plenty of surfers holding their phones aloft to record the experience. Their music and lyrics clearly connect with a female audience. Women not only outnumbered the male surfers but appeared to make up a majority of those at the front of the stage, an unusual sight for a night of heavier music.
It’s easy to get lost in the distinctions between alternative metal, modern hard rock, and melodic metalcore. Whatever label you choose, the melodies and atmosphere are the draw. And, of course, Josh Mowery’s clean, expressive vocals carry much of their emotional weight, coupled with choruses that are as big as they come.
With Onell Hernandez sitting high above the stage behind the drums, Cianan Madigan on bass and Teddy Herrera on guitar occupied the wings, leaving plenty of room for Mowery to roam the stage and connect with the audience. Ear candy aside, it’s the connection that’s important, especially for those drawn by lyrics that explore the darker corners of relationships, personal struggles, and emotional fallout. The crowd clearly hears the message, ready to sing along with each chorus.
Mowery introduced “The Basement” as the most personal song he’s ever written. It explores the emotional weight of a relationship that has left someone feeling trapped, isolated, and unable to escape the memories of what happened. The idea of confronting something buried for a long time seems particularly fitting for a song called “The Basement.”
Ghosts are a recurring presence in the band’s material. “21 Gun Salute” brings ghosts into the picture, while “Ghost Inside the Shell” is even more explicit in its imagery, dealing with the accumulated weight of life’s struggles, when everything seems to be going wrong and escape feels like the only option. Maybe his basement has as many things stored as others’ attics.
Catch Your Breath’s rise has been driven in large part by “Dial Tone,” the song that introduced the band to a much wider audience and also served as the evening’s closer. It’s in many ways the blueprint for their songs, with its haunting melodic opening, emotionally direct lyrics, and massive chorus. The track has accumulated well over 100 million streams, giving the band an audience that extends well beyond the traditional metalcore scene. “Shame On Me” helped establish that connection, while newer material from Not Broken Enough demonstrates a band continuing to work within the sound that brought it here.
True to the tour name, the band played all of the new album’s eleven tracks. With one album and a handful of EPs and singles released since forming in 2017, there was no reason not to embrace the new work. To my ears, “Red Alert” stood out, both in delivery and lighting, as did “21 Gun Salute” from their first album.
Their music is clearly connecting, and there is little doubt that Catch Your Breath has developed a particularly devoted following. A clue? A fan held up a sign for bassist Cianan Madigan reading, “I love your pimple patch!” For a band establishing itself as a headliner, the response suggests that the connection is working.
Setlist:
Easily the evening’s most active band on stage, TX2 exploded onto the stage and never slowed down. Singer Timothy Evan Thomas (Evan) mentioned that this was the band’s third time at Tabernacle, each time stepping on slot on the opening card. Headliner next? If not, it won’t be for lack of energy and crowd engagement. Since their last appearance opening for Black Veil Brides earlier this year, bassist “Corky” Lee has also expanded her role, singing more and no longer hiding in the proverbial shadows.
The band covers identity, mental health and social liberalism, but honestly, it’s a bit lost in all the alternative pop-punk stage antics. A fun band to watch.
Arankai is the solo project of its namesake, who brings a full band along for live performances. The sound leans toward dark, emotionally charged alternative rock. They played two new songs, “Letdown” and “Helter Skelter,” from his new album, The Shape of Blue. The more aggressive sections were the most enjoyable, and the crowd, who by that point had arrived, were all in.
Colorblind, from Austin like the headliner, made an ideal opening act, wasting little time getting the crowd involved and making it clear they understood their assignment: get everyone excited. The band had the room dividing down the middle to make space for a mosh pit, had the crowd wave phones back and forth and generally kept the energy moving between songs and throughout the set. Musically, they lean toward a blend of alternative rock, post-hardcore, and modern hard rock, They crammed a lot into their 30 minute set, making the most of it.
