[as seen on Stereogum]

Sean Sprecher — who previously went by Sean Bean — has been a cornerstone of the Boston music scene for a while now, first releasing music as Fat History Month before transitioning over to Bad History Month back in 2014. He released his first album under that name, Dead And Loving It: An Introductory Exploration Of Pessimysticism, in 2017, and he’ll be following that up with another full-length later this year.

It’s called Old Blues and he’s kicking things off with the ambitious and impressive 13-minute single “Waste Not,” a sturdily constructed jumble of thoughts and ideas about aging that moves through about 10 different good parts in that expansive runtime. One of my favorites: “I wasn’t always a washed-up whale, beached and bloated and trapped in the past/ In fact once upon a time I was a little plastic beach ball, and I could move pretty fucking fast.”

“Though I’ve become fairly cynical about the human spirit, I still do write songs that strive for hope more than anything,” he said in a press release, continuing:

There’s always a reach towards a punchline or a way forward at the end because all laments and complaints should be leavened with humor and optimism. Acknowledging and laughing at our personal and collective failings is a path towards self-awareness and productive engagement with ourselves and the world. It’s also a path away from the numb escape of endless internet addiction, the anaesthetic mental armor of knee-jerk political thought, and the gossipy inanities and complaints-for-their-own-sake that pass for Social Life much of the time. It’s also Aspirational Music in that I don’t currently have the strength to live up to my own values.

Listen to “Waste Not” below.