Track Review: Finish Line // Matt Bednarsky
With a constant desire to inspire and comfort audiences, US-based Matt Bednarsky is a shining light at the end of that dark proverbial tunnel. Noting his influences as James Taylor, Jason Mraz, The Beatles and Paul Simon, Matt’s music has a rather smooth, calming effect on listeners. Performing for thousands of audiences across the globe and featuring on US national television, this singer-songwriter has a worldwide following. In fact, his song ‘Garden’ was used in a promotional video for the World Wildlife Fund that was viewed at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Scotland – pretty cool, huh? The latest addition to his discography is ‘Finish Line’.
Following his well-received track ‘Who I Will Become’, ‘Finish Line’ has a harder, more rock-driven melody. Combining dynamic guitars with pounding drums, ‘Finish Line’ tosses you into a sonic swirl with its kaleidoscopic arrangement. What I find interesting is how Matt inserts acoustic guitars and percussion into an electric ensemble attempting to find that balance between organic and synthetic. This is intriguing as it seems to align with Matt’s exploration of contemporary society and loss of control in our reality.
Produced by a plethora of industry professionals and performed with a melting pot of artists, ‘Finish Line’ is an outstanding collaboration drawing together diverse insights. The pop-rock meets indie-folk is attention-grabbing enhancing the song’s poignancy, but there remains a charming mellowness in its laidback ambience. Matt Bednarsky explains that ‘Finish Line’ is “…both a signal flare and call to action. Society and technology are moving at an incredibly fast base but to where? What’s the end goal of our innovation and advancement? This song [‘Finish Line’] brings these questions front and centre and therefore urges humanity to think deeply and in detail about our trajectories.”
Soul-stirring and intimate, ‘Finish Line’ is not only chilled but thought-provoking. This is my introduction to Matt Bednarsky and I can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve.