good morning ~

trying something new today: for the first time I’m turning over the content of this newsletter to its readers, thus Your Big Break.

adding interviews to the formatting this year has been an excellent move for me - I’ve really enjoyed having those conversations and publishing them here has really increased the amount of other people’s voices and perspectives. and this exercise feels like more of that opening up the stage - it’s the my big break open mic and we got some good stuff on deck this week

starting off, a lovely photo from a recent trip to New Orleans sent in by Jeremy Shatan - he runs the excellent blog An Earful and can be found on Instagram right here

good morning ~

(click the link / movie theater dusk to listen)

My Big Breakdon't ever think my lonely ones that you cannot be your own sweetie

good morning ~

(click the link / farm to listen)

My Big Breakat the mercy of other people’s generosity

good morning ~

(click the link / sunflower billboard to listen)

My Big BreakThe sacred and the profane, the gnostic and the dumbass

good morning ~

(click the link / Echo Park to listen)

My Big Breaka patch of permanently green astroturf

good morning ~

(click the link / bad photo of a hummingbird to listen)

My Big Breaka sound of sweetness with no equal

good morning ~

(click the link / Quincy shore to listen)

My Big Breakpassing the collection plate

good morning ~

(click the link / plant start to listen)

My Big Breaka shard of the creator's aura

good morning ~

(click the link / rave dome wall to listen)

My Big Breakgo with momentum

good morning ~

bringing you another fat stack of hot tracks today via my Vibes of Late playlist

before we get to that, though, just wanted to mention that I’ll be playing a bunch of shows in the Northeast and at least one in LA this month - - check the tour flyer:

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):