Relentless Pursuit – “Modified Reconstruction”
Relentless Pursuit – “Modified Reconstruction” – Single Review
Wellllllllllllllllll…here we are.
I always knew this day would come. The day that I’d have to admit that I’m having a freakin’ hard time listening to the music I’ve been checking out.
Alright. So. Look – I remember the last time when I checked out Relentless Pursuit, back on an album called Through Confusion back towards the end of 2022 – and yes, I can remember it being a highly challenging style of music that was tough to absorb. I’ve been there in many different ways before, with music from all corners of the scene in just about every different genre you can think of – I really don’t mind being challenged when it comes to what I listen to…it makes things unique on this side of the speakers and keeps me from listening to the same stuff in different forms over and over and over again.
But this. I honestly don’t know if I can do it y’all?!?
There are certainly points where I feel like I can hang with Matthew Konradt’s material in Relentless Pursuit, and that’s even true of parts in this third single released from the upcoming record coming out this April 30th – there are pieces of “Modified Reconstruction” that I can definitely appreciate, and some that I even dig on a personal level. That being said, we can sonically meet our match at any point in time – the reaper essentially comes for us all eventually. For some folks, it’s the ol’ nails on a chalkboard sound. For others, it’s hearing someone use the word ‘moist’ in conversation. The list can go on and on – but it’s very true that we all come up against things that make our ears wanna squirm right off of our face. As “Modified Reconstruction” began with its dark melodic guitar part, it was business as usual over here – I had no reason to be concerned – things sounded good as this new single from Relentless Pursuit first began. That would change very quickly around the eighteen-second mark (you know, approximately) – I don’t know what it is that Konradt added through the synths there exactly, all I know is that it physically made me feel queasy. He leans freakin’ HARD into this sound too, keeping this part of the song going for about the next thirty-five seconds, which to me, felt like an eternity. I’m not saying this to be disrespectful at all – I’m simply explaining my personal experience & how I reacted to hearing “Modified Reconstruction.” In fact, I’m quite confident that Matthew is more than happy to push the boundaries on a sensory level, because he was already doing that the last time I checked in on his music. Do I expect everyone out there to have the same reaction to that sound as I do? Hell no – of course not. That ain’t how music or sound works. Some folks will definitely get where I’m coming from in listening to the intentionally jarring layers of melody at work here, but I doubt that most people will feel their stomach churning like I did. I was genuinely surprised by the level of physical reaction I felt in listening to “Modified Reconstruction” – it was unexpected to say the very least…and really not that pleasant.
Anyhow. Once this single ticked towards the end of its first minute, and the beat & spoken word combo came into play, I felt like the ground beneath this tune (and me) started to stabilize. I really enjoyed the mix on Matthew’s vocals and how they echoed throughout the lefts & rights as we consider what’s being said, and production-wise, I feel like just about everything on “Modified Reconstruction” was a real step up from the last time I listened to Relentless Pursuit. And yes, that’s including my arch-enemy synth sound. You see? I’m nothing but fair folks, I swear – I’m just willing to call things like I hear’em is all. Like, lyrically for example – everything about what you’ll hear from the words in this tune is based in faith and I don’t have a religious bone in my entire body – there’s not a whole lot there that would interest me thematically, but I do like the way things are being said – make sense? Everyone following along? If you’re the religious type, you might get a whole other dimension of meaning out of this single than I could ever hope to receive – but I maintain that even if you’re not, the words are still presented to us in a highly engaging way that gets our attention easily. I don’t need to agree with every word in every song I’ll ever hear to begin with, and secondly, I’d way rather listen to something with a concept like this than another song about chicks and cars. To be completely fair, “Modified Reconstruction” is part of a larger concept album to come, so we can also assume there’s more context to the story we’re hearing here than what we know right now as well. I love the punch in the sound of the drum loop production, I’m neither here nor there on the whole growling stuff…if that’s your jam, high-five from me, it’s just not my thing personally. I don’t mind the synth sound coming back in the most raging & intense parts of this song…it fits a bit better there, even if it’s still not my favorite thing to have come back for another round. The finale works well…I really dig the very end as the synth piano comes out for a melodic twist, but even before that, when Matthew switched back into the Spoken Word aspect and left the growling behind, I thought that was probably my favorite transition and moment in “Modified Reconstruction.”
That’s wild y’all. I really can’t remember feeling this way about a song before, but I suppose I’m just as thankful as ever that it’s not complete indifference! I can remember hearing tunes like “Stupidmop” by Pearl Jam, or the hidden tracks on albums by Bootsauce that would make me flick the lights on before, but I’ve never encountered a sound that had my stomach churning like this single had it doing. So…yeah – I mean, I really don’t know what to say here – I just might not be built for a song like this one, but that’s not to say you might not be. Did I just eat a bad taco or something? Maybe I didn’t sleep enough or I’m missing some kind of vitamin? I don’t know if I need to be this uncomfortable with something that I’d throw on a playlist, but maybe your more masochistic than I am in that regard…maybe what I’ve described here is the exact feeling you seek out when you’re listening to music! All the more power to ya if it is – our differences will forever be what makes the world go around, and the last thing I’d ever do is tell you that you shouldn’t like something that you do. If “Modified Reconstruction” is your jam, I’m every bit as inclined as ever to tell you to turn it up loud and proud until the heavens above hear it too.
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