In the past month, I took almost three weeks off of work entirely, which I count as a tremendous blessing. I also promised that there would be a new format for Unsung Sundays. It’s only fitting that the new format happens now, in the twenty-fifth week of Unsung Sunday’s publication — a minor milestone for what’s ultimately a one-man publication.
For most readers, I think this is going to be a quiet format change. I’m still recommending music every Sunday, but I’m dialling it back to one album a week. There’s a few reasons for this. The first is that it lets me eliminate all cruft from Unsung Sundays. Save for special announcements, this will be the last “introduction” you read on the site. My mission, to introduce myself and readers to music that we find exciting and fresh, doesn’t change, and if there are any newcomers, they’ll catch on pretty quickly to what the site is “about.”
It also lets me keep the word count down. Week 24 was over 2,000 words long. I’m lucky if I’ve held your attention passed 300 — that’s just a fact of web writing. It also encourages me to get rid of stupid stuff. I’ll no longer encourage you to follow Unsung Sundays on different social media platforms — I’m sure that you could find the blog on your own without any issue if you were so inclined.
Finally, focusing on one album a week lets me focus on quality. Writing five album reviews a week inevitably means that I lose focus with at least three of them. I think there’s an obvious dip in quality from one review to the next, where some reviews are longer and some are shorter — obviously based on how much time I was actually able to devote to listening to and considering a record. And with space for only one record a week, I’d rather spend time focusing on less popular artists. That means you’ll see fewer Kanye and Gaga considerations, and more time spent on artists you’re hopefully being introduced to for the first time.
I intend on making more changes in the future to the way this blog looks to make it a more pleasurable reading experience, but for now, I’d like to thank you for reading the blog, and if you newly subscribed while I was away, thanks for joining me on my adventures. With that in mind, welcome to the improved Unsung Sundays. I’m glad you’re here.