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Indie-pop's hook aficionado, Landon Conrath, has taken a breath, and the outcome is his newest heart-wrenching single, “Broken.”

The lifeline of “Broken” resides in the single guitar coursing at the heart of the song. It moves with the distinct melancholic fluidity of Midwest-folk-emo-adjacent-pop, cycling through a constant melody that contrasts and supports the vocal simultaneously. The pared-down arrangement in “Broken” makes for a spacious soundscape bursting with vibrant intentionality. Conrath’s low tones really blossom as they’re able to explore unrushed melodies, accessing a richer range than his previous, more pace-focused tracks. Lilting synths soar up around the outskirts of the track, but they don’t overtake the main instruments. These atmospheric details haunt the background of “Broken” like that ache in your throat when you’re about to cry, threatening to spill out, brimming with emotion.

Conrath comments on the making of the song, at a time when he felt hurt and alone, “Those feelings spilled over so much into the production of the song. It feels pensive and determinedly somber, almost as if I've made up my mind that I'll forever feel this way.”

What stands out to me about “Broken,” though, is the way that Conrath builds the song temperately, surging toward high points but not losing his way from the unique liminal space it lives in. The desperation doesn’t boil over, but it definitely doesn’t settle, either. We remain in this place of unresolved yearning, satisfied only by the instrumental echoing of our emotion that Conrath layers into the track. Background vocals lightly echo the lyrical poignancy; synths flutter and hum, but don’t flood.

“Broken” is a refreshing breath of change for Conrath as the indie-pop artist emerges from the release of his debut album, Nothing Matters Anyway. The spacious track allows for a prismatic emotional tone, one that listeners can choose their relation to as the song unfolds. To me, there are simultaneous moments of delicate wistfulness and burning, pent-up bitterness in “Broken,” but each listen reveals a little bit more of Conrath’s dappled songwriting flair.

Listen to "Broken" below: