Some things are better left alone, but others demand to be examined in search of resolution. Such is the case for RYAN Playground, aka Montreal-based producer and singer Genevieve Ryan Martel, on her new single “Prolongation.” In forthright yet computerized vocals, she sings, “Even if you make it right, I can’t lie, something isn’t right when we say goodbye.” The word “goodbye” is stretched out into the proceeding beat so that it sounds like Playground’s robotic vocals stumbled upon a glitch — appropriate given that the song is about an unresolved rupture in her past.

Director Didier Charette’s accompanying music video is an assemblage of low and high-fidelity shots in which Playground takes long walks and journeys into meadows and silent tunnels, a universal way of contemplating unfinished business of romantic affairs. As Charette explains via email, the walking represents a trip backwards in time:

After several meetings with me, RYAN opened up and told me her life story. There was a moment in her life that changed everything. For her, an actual encounter flipped her world upside down and made her realize that she had grown up to not be her true self and she wanted to go back to her childhood to find herself. For years she had tried to fit in, but that moment made her realize that she wasn’t happy. That’s what we went for.

See where she wanders off to in the video below.

“Prolongation” will appear on RYAN Playground’s forthcoming album. Stream it here via your service of choice.