I’m an album guy in a singles world.

Part of it is a product of age. Those formative high school years were spent listening to things like Rush’s “2112,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” and Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” albums that take the listener on a journey from beginning to end.

I love a perfectly crafted 4-minute pop song and oftentimes I would set my old iPod with 10,000+ songs on shuffle. But I’m spinning LPs at home, and the CDs in my car (yes, my car is old enough to still have a CD player) get played from beginning to end.

Even Spotify called me out in my year-end summary. I forget how it was worded, but the gist was, “Buddy, when you listen to a band, you listen to the whole album.” I make playlists, but I’m guessing I didn’t get into double figures with any single song last year.

The prevalence of streaming services like Spotify has amplified the role of the single. Some acts don’t even bother with “albums” anymore; they’re content to release individual songs and maybe they’ll get ambitious and collect three to six of them together and call in an EP.

Even the ones that still release albums often release multiple tracks individually. A lead single before the album release was the norm for decades, but more often fans can hear at least three or four songs before the album hits stores.

Part of me loves it; part of me thinks it’s the equivalent of knowing what all your presents are going to be a week before Christmas.

UK buzz band The Last Dinner Party had at least four songs available before its full-length album came out in February. I streamed “Nothing Matters” and some of the other tracks several times in anticipation. When the album finally came out, it was like a movie that puts all the best scenes in the trailer. It was anticlimactic.

There are pluses and minuses to releasing music this way, and two experiences this week gave me the idea for this column.

On Monday Frank Turner, one of my favorite artists, released “Letters,” the fourth single from his upcoming album “Undefeated.” I gave it a spin and relistened to the three previous singles, all of which I like (and “Girl from the Record Shop” I love).

It inspired me to order a special package that included a limited edition picture disc of “Undefeated,” a T-shirt and a turntable slipmat.

The prereleases created the excitement that made me purchase the album in advance, and I look forward to wearing the T-shirt when my daughter and I see Turner at the Roxian Theatre in May.

I had the exact opposite experience 12 hours later.

My two favorite concerts of 2019 were Turner at the Agora Theatre and Strand of Oaks at the Beachland Tavern, two shows I saw in the same week.

Tuesday morning Strand of Oaks (Timothy Showalter) released the lead single from his upcoming album, “Miracle Focus.” Since picking up “Eraserland” at that 2019 show, I’ve bought three other Strand LPs, and he’s one of those artists I enjoy enough that I might have preordered the new one.

Then I listened to the new single “More You.”

Yikes.

He describes the album as a love letter to, among other things, bliss, meditation, his wife, synthesizers and “dancing your a – off.”

There’s no danger of losing one’s behind while listening to “More You.” The bigger challenge is trying to stay awake.

Showalter has been open about his mental health struggles in the past, and I’m glad he sounds like he’s in a good place.

I’ll give the full album a listen when it’s available to stream, but if the rest is him singing self-help aphorisms over rudimentary synthesizer arrangements, I just saved at least $20.