Catalyst Analyst is the first single released from Reckoner's unreleased third studio album, Everything X. The song consists of five different sections and runs into a stream of consciousness, a sign of the band's transition to progressive rock. The song incorporates different genres including Blues, alternative rock, electronica, and tribal music, making it the most experimental track the band has ever created. The music video for this song was released 3 days earlier and featured a zombie apocalypse theme.
Tracklisting:
1.Catalyst Analyst(Reckoner)-a band contributed song, Catalyst Analyst was originally five different songs, only merged into one by the request of the producer, Regan Futrell."It was originally five different songs when we presented it to Regan, it was originally intended to be a concept EP since it had almost similar lyrical themes, but Regan found a way to merge all songs into one. We had to remove, add, or change some parts in order for all of them to go flow in one straight line, luckily it became a success." says Troy. The title Catalyst Analyst was only a term that popped out of Troy's head and did not mean anything. "Catalyst Analyst has been lingering in my head for a long time. It began back in my chemistry classes when I heard of the term Catalyst, I then thought of the word Analyst since it rhymed and combined them to form Catalyst Analyst, a totally non-sense term. Band trivia: Catalyst Analyst was the first name I thought when we started looking for a band name. Cool right?" says Troy. The song runs for 8 minutes and 47 seconds making it the longest single and song released by the band.
First Section(0:00-1:19)-the first section is shortest barely reaching up to a minute. It is only the introduction of the song.It begins with the sound of strong winds and flowing water later on followed by fast paced tribal drums and a slightly audible bass intro by JPC, Carl and JC then enter quickly strumming their guitars while Tristan mimics the tribal drums. Everything stops as JC starts playing a distorted metal-ish guitar riff, the rest of the band follows quickly. The background is composed of tribal drums and some tribal chanting, slightly audible since it is layered by Reckoner's own parts. The section ends with a continuous drum beat going in to the next section.
Second Section(1:19-3:23)-the second section is the "alternative rock" section where Troy finally enters. The section starts off with Tristan's fast and continuous drumbeat accompanied by Carl's power chord progression and JPC's slapping bassline. JC and Troy follow with even more distortion. Troy starts singing in his signature angry-yet-calm voice with lyrics talking about an a man stuck in a war torn country, who doesn't have a clue on what is happening. He then starts getting hysterical and paranoid with all the chaos surrounding him and tries to find his way out in vain, the section is composed of two stanzas and is more guitar-oriented. Most guitar parts are consisted of JC's complex riffs with Carl's contrasting power chords, JPC also plays in distortion to incorporate the desired "noise" by the band. This section ends when Troy belts out a high note as the other instruments descend into silence, leaving Carl to play a bridge connecting to the next section.
Third Section(3:23-5:30)-the third section is the "quiet and solemn blues" section. Carl plays his bluesy guitar solo for 31 seconds only accompanied by Tristan's drums and Troy's clean guitar strumming. JPC enters with his synthesizer, the first time JPC played anything other than the bass guitar, while JC plays a melodic piano piece while keeping the blues theme alive, Carl stops playing and Troy adds a little distortion while playing in a muted style. Troy starts singing in a soft voice constantly raising up to falsetto, the lyrics are now about the man's degradation into dementia, the man is now going crazy and there is no body to help. the sad and eerie feeling of the synth-piano combination compliment the lyrics to give the listener pity for the man's condition. The background music for this section is an overdubbed track of the band members singing in a choral style. Later on Carl starts playing the harmonica, an instrument that JC taught him to play for this exact song. "We had no one to play the harmonica, JPC was busy with the synths, I was busy with the piano, Troy cannot sing while playing the harmonica so the last resort was to teach Carl how to play it, he is a fast learner after all." This section is consisted of a two verses containing the same lyrics, the first verse is sung in the normal state, just like singing any other song, but the second verse is more emotional and adds sentiment to the already depressing section. The section ends with Troy's voice fading away in falsetto.
Fourth Section(5:30-7:04)-the fourth section is JC's main composition. A piano-driven section, it is more of a "big bridge" connecting the sad and depressing third section to the powerful and electryfying fifth. JC continues playing the piano as the band continue to accompany him, with Troy playing rhythm guitar, JPC sliding up and down his synth, Carl slowly picking notes in his guitar, and Tristan laying down a unique drumbeat. This section is focused on an ascending scale to represent the gathering of energy, it's like a bomb getting ready to explode, This section ends with a prolonged piano chord.
Fifth Section(7:04-8:49)-the fifth section is the electronic rock section which features heavy synthesizers and electronic beats. The section starts off with Tristan programming an drum machine which begins the fast paced beat of the section. JPC leaves the synths to Regan as he starts sliding up and down with his distorted bass, JC and Carl are also playing on distortion and Troy leaves his guitar to pursue with the vocals. The energy starts to explode as Tristan transposes the electronic drumbeats to his drums. This section is more of a floor filler as it is intended to make everyone dance or jump to it. Troy starts singing with the fast paced song and adds a panting effect to incorporate the emotion. The section's synthesizer is the main instrument that labeled this section "electronic and spacey". Aside from synthesizers, the guitars are also very special as they add the spice to the song. The last few seconds are more focused on ad-libs and freestyle guitar solos which all end suddenly, the same sudden ending effect used in Grudge.
2.So Far Away(Morrisson)
-So Far Away is an acoustic love song written by Carl Morrisson for his girlfriend Frances, who works as a flight attendant and is always far away from him. The song is focused on arpeggiated chords played by JC and Troy with light singing by non other than Carl himself. The song's lyrics talk about Carl's loneliness without his woman and the awkward situation they are in. "She may always have flights, but I still do love her and I'm willing to wait for her whenever" says Carl.
3.Riverside Sonata(Anderson)-the Riverside Sonata is a simple classical piece played by JC Anderson. It is unaccompanied and focuses on the piano alone. The song is titled as such since inspiration was drawn when JC was sitting beside a river at night during the recording sessions. He then started to play his keyboard and began writing this beautiful and sentimental piece, which later on became the Riverside Sonata
