Paul Westerberg re-emerges as Mr. F

​The inscrutable and completely random recent output by Paul Westerberg is apparently going to continue with the just announced release of a 7-inch featuring a batch of new songs attributed to Westerberg, now evidently recording under the moniker Mr. F. Nimbit Music (another seemingly arbitrary distributor for Westerberg's latest music, along with Amazon MP3 and TuneCore) has already sold-out of the record, which consists of just two songs, "This Machine" and "Foolish Hand Shake."

A third track comes  in the form of a bonus mp3 download card that comes with the 7-inch, "Grandpaboy's Last Stand," which of course alludes to the alias Westerberg recorded under during the early 2000's. And, word is that "Grandpaboy's Last Stand" clocks in at over 35 minutes.

There really hasn't been any formal announcement about this forthcoming release, with news just spreading via blogs and social media. This continues Westerberg's trend of having little to no fanfare in regards to his recent creative output, having dropped the completely unexpected (and entirely amazing)  49:00 on his unsuspecting fans in 2008 without barely any notice at all, finishing the album in his basement one week and making it available the next.

The album was sold for only 49 cents, for what was intended to be 49 minutes of music, all done to honor Westerberg's 49th birthday, which was later that year. Unfortunately, the album, which doesn't have a track listing and is recorded in fitful bursts akin to tuning a radio dial, has samples from some well-known artists threaded throughout the release, and they were forced to remove the file a week after it was made available due to a threat of lawsuits.

Westerberg cheekily released "5:05" a week later, making up for the amount of time under 49-minutes the original release clocked in at. And, other than some miscellaneous archive material and casual singles released via TuneCore and Amazon, as well as the six-song EP Westerberg released in 2009, PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys, Paul has been pretty silent. Until now, that is.

The cover of the 7-inch also alludes to "Son Of A Depression," which is apparently "coming soon." What that means, exactly, is anybody's guess. But judging by how and when Westerberg has released his music lately, it won't be something we expect and it will be entirely on his terms. His fans wouldn't want it any other way.

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