good morning ~

(click the link / neighbor’s cat departing to listen)

My Big Breakalways the getting grimiest

good morning ~

(click the link / Montreal church to listen)

My Big Breaknude in the fluorescent light

hey all -

just a quick note to let you know that the Deluxe edition of my record Youth Pastoral is out today on Tiny Engines

“God is a wild dog running in its sleep”

The deluxe edition brings us a new LP pressing, meaning copies are available for the first time since 2020! We’ve also got a new vinyl master, a bunch of outtakes and b-sides up on streaming, and dazzling, brand new layout and artwork by Alex Tatusian.

good morning ~

(click the link / monster trucks to listen)

My Big BreakI just wanted these beautiful beasts to run free

good morning ~

(click the waterpark construction / link to listen)

My Big Breaka dusty songbook that you could pull out of a piano bench

good morning ~

(click the link / pendulum mural to listen)

My Big Breaktriple beam coelostat

good morning ~

(click the link / citrus towel to listen)

My Big Breakat some point in my life I need to try something like this

good morning ~

(click the Climax view / link to listen)

My Big Breakloved it even more for its yoking

good morning ~

(click the link / porch cat to listen)

My Big Breakbecome large and unruly

good morning ~

Tomorrow will mark FIVE YEARS since the release of Youth Pastoral, an album of songs I put out about breaking, breaking up, and breaking up with God. It was the second to last day of a leap year February and within a week the entire world was about to change. But we didn’t know that at the time, so we all crammed into an over-capacity Union Pool and sang and cried within many overlapping six foot circles, the last big gig many of us went to that year.

good morning ~

today I’m starting the first of what I hope are many experimentations with the regular format of this email project - - I truly love sending you new music and writing every week, but lately I’ve been feeling a really strong gravitational pull out of my own head and perspective. asking you my barrage of questions at the end of these emails isn’t enough - I want to spend more dedicated time focusing on other people’s work, I wanna zoom out.

with that in mind, I’m reviving my on-again off-again public playlist habit and dedicating this edition of MBB to broadening our efforts in collective listening

sharing two playlists with you here ~ ~

good morning ~

(click the link / river ice to listen)

My Big Breakwill to go without

good morning ~

today we’re very happy to release “astral projecting into flavortown,” a new compilation of the best tracks from this newsletter’s 2024 run. it’s up now on all the streamers and also for sale on Bandcamp, thanks to Sound as Language.

the resulting album is typically reflective and serene with vast expanses of calm, little pillows of piano and digital choirs on which you can rest the ring of your mind. but there are also a surprising number of drums and one notable techno-adjacent ripper, each track a pinhole portal into its own little hopeful world.

here’s a link:

good morning ~

(click the link / oranges to listen)

My Big Breaksteam rose from the graspers

good morning ~

(click the link / walking guy to listen)

My Big Breakmental toxicity and dance susceptibility

hello all ~

just a quick note to let you know that “a rare primordial elation” - the second track from the My Big Break compilation coming out next week - is available now as a single.

Easily among the slowest recordings I’ve ever made, this one unfurls very slowly, a haunting melody made from a sampled wind chime undulating over a lo-res digital choir.

You can hear it on streaming:

good afternoon ~

(click the link / brat sled to listen)

My Big Breaklove is a wonderful thing and comes with many benefits

hello ~

Friends Meeting - my band with m. geddes gengras - just put out some new music today in an effort to raise money for folks in Los Angeles

the track’s called “some fantastic proportion” taken from the infamous Major Briggs vision monologue from Twin Peaks. the music is easily the grooviest thing we’ve done together and sprawls out kraut-like over the course of 20 minutes:

Friends Meetingsome fantastic proportion

good morning ~

(click the link / sunrise to listen)

My Big Breaka shred of aura

good morning ~

today we’re announcing the upcoming release of astral projecting into flavortown, a new compilation of the best tracks from this project from the last year.

the first single “they wanna hear another heater” - a particularly spare recording of piano and ebow - is streaming everywhere now. The whole album comes out February 7th and pre-orders are live on Bandcamp

readers of this email project may have heard all these tracks before, but compiled in this way they really become something else entirely and the whole album has a wild flow to it, quick changing modes and moods from track to track

good morning ~

(click the link / three air dancers to listen)

My Big Breakthe lower crags

good morning ~

(click the link / broken playground to listen)

My Big Breakburrow out a vestigial badger

good morning ~

(click the link / muzak knob to listen)

My Big Breakit wouldn't so bad if it were just like this forever

good morning ~

(click the blurry chapel link to listen)

Drone Sleepover ArchivesDrone Sleepover Volume 6

today’s track comes from the StretchMetal Drone Sleepover, an overnight concert I played in Chicago earlier this year. they recorded the entire evening including my entire hour twenty sleepy set of vocal loops, whispers, and keyboard plinks. one of the best gigs I’ve maybe ever played! you should totally pre-order the whole thing, it comes out december 30 and there are a couple of other sets from that night available for streaming now, too

good morning ~

(click the link / skyline to listen)

My Big BreakI will lead you to the nectar

good morning ~

(click the link / NYC night tree to listen)

My Big Breakan upwind conflagration

good morning ~

(click the link / cutout bat to listen)

My Big Breakchange of scene, however slender

good morning ~

(click the link / highway sunset to listen)

My Big Breakcollision with ursus americanus

good morning ~

(click the link / mean eyed disco ball shadow to listen)

My Big Breakthis one was particularly syrupy

good morning ~

(click the link / aurora to listen)

My Big Breakthe screens of phones held to heaven

good morning ~

(click the link / fogged out dance floor to listen)

My Big Breakheaven's hazer, god's laser

good morning ~

(click the link / sun streaming through the trees to listen)

My Big Breaka surreal hour of normalcy

good morning ~

(click the link / preposterous contraption to listen)

My Big Breakgasps of backlit dust

good morning ~

still off rhythm here at MBBHQ - I have no new writing and no new track to offer you, but I did want to let you know about a very sick show happening tonight in Kingston, NY - at Tubby’s, me, Nico, and John will be playing ALLORA again - now one month old! - opening for JRCG whose recent SubPop album is really good. Here’s a ticket link and here’s a flyer:

I’ve got a couple of great shows next week, too, including Wednesday at the Avalon with one of my favorite ever bands Scree and Maine sweethearts Wildflower. And then - it isn’t technically announced yet - but it looks like we’ll be playing at Rippers in the Rockaways next weekend. More info on all that next week ;)

ciao bella -

just a quick note to let you know that these preposterous ALLORA t-shirts are now available for purchase on Bandcamp:

good morning ~

no new music for you today, but I did do some writing (and you can still check out the album)

there’s a remaining handful of ALLORA release events happening this weekend, including this big show at Union Pool on Saturday:

buongiorno ~

just a quick note to say that finally - five years to the day we left the studio in Montebelluna - ALLORA is out now:

Ben SeretanAllora

good morning all ~

my first LP in FIVE YEARS comes out on Friday - it’s called ALLORA.

to both celebrate and prepare, we organized a lil online Bandcamp listening party for this evening at 7pm EST - we’ll gather in the chat, listen to the whole album through a couple of days early, and I’ll be taking any questions you might have about how these chaotic 34 minutes came to be - - lobby opens at 6:30pm I believe and then music at 7pm!

you can RSVP here:

good morning ~

changing it up slightly today - still giving you something to listen to, but this time it’s other people’s music. finally updated my long dormant “vibes of late” playlist - - I also updated the now 6+ hour “shaking air” playlist - - check ‘em out below

good morning ~

just writing to share a ~new song~ and a really great interview about the new record, everything, and all the everything that’s crammed into the new record - - enjoy “Climb the Ladder” - the third and final single from ALLORA and this chat between me and Ian Cohen (who reviewed Youth Pastoral for Pitchfork in 2020):

Ben Seretan Interview: 'Allora,' 'Youth Pastoral,' Italy, Leaving The Church, & More

Hear new single "Climb The Ladder" and read our interview about 'Allora,' the New York artist's "insane Italy record."

“Climb the Ladder” is available on Bandcamp (as are digital / vinyl pre-orders):

good morning ~

(click the link / rave trees to listen)

My Big Breakveiled in the cheesecloth of exhaustion

good morning ~

(click the link / church sign to listen)

My Big Breakstatues of goblins and gargoyles

good morning ~

(click the link / texas wildflowers to listen)

My Big Breakhe's so much more vocal in his dreams

good morning ~

(click the link / vestigial outlet to listen)

My Big Breakon which my choo choo chugs

good morning ~

(click the link / fogged out Rockaways to listen)

My Big Breaksugar on the breeze

good morning ~

today the second single from ALLORA - my forthcoming “insane Italian album” - is out for your fist-pumping listening enjoyment

“Bend” started like many songs do: hungover as hell wearily seated at an out-of-tune upright piano. In the hands of this mighty power trio, though, in those brief but crammed days we had in the studio, it turned from a headache prayer to a jubilant, threatening promise, a sunflower poem, a muscular disco catharsis

the track is premiering on Paste today and of course you can find it, stream it, and pre-order it in all the usual places.

Hi all - - -

I don’t have the time/energy/etc. this week to pull off a new track and some writing however I did want to blast out one final earnest invitation to the thing that is my work this week -

24-HOUR DRONE happens this Saturday in Hudson, New York at a place called Basilica Hudson. I work there and after being a longtime fan of this festival I am now amazingly one of the people working to organize it and pull it off - -

It’s a deep, challenging, special music event that is quite unlike anything else - hundreds of people sprawled out on concrete slumbering as the music unfurls.

good morning ~

(click the link / thumbs up toad to listen)

My Big Breakthe yoke of the yearn

good morning ~

(click the link / carpeted congregation to listen)

My Big Breakthe glint of the crystal knife

good morning ~

(click the link / bleeding hearts to listen)

My Big Breaka rare primordial elation