He calls his brand of music melodramatic popular song
and that's about as fitting a title as any lowly critic could conjure. In his newest album, Way to Normal, Ben Folds continues to be the pessimist of modern music. Though he has been joined in the ranks by contemporary band Death Cab for Cutie, he holds the title of most entertaining smart alec in the biz.
If you are not a Folds follower, you'd recognize Rockin' The Suburbs off the album of the same name, but you'd need to educate yourself. Not only is he coming to Athens tonight, but he's got a talent that stands arrogantly above most bands of today, and rightfully so.
The single You Don't Know Me is a duet of beauty and the geek, with Folds' average voice intermingling with the floating, silky soprano of Regina Spektor. Somehow this arrangement has an ingenious charm, and the poppy bass and keyboard behind it work to make it the most mainstream song of the album.
Way to Normal is Folds being happy that he's unhappy. Hiroshima talks about people watching him fall on his face, bleed and generally cause himself bodily harm. But the content is in sharp contrast to the light, upbeat vocals. Depression sounds like a letter on Sesame Street when Ben Folds sings it.
One of the funniest things about Folds is the way he can rattle off cuss words exactly the way he spouts flowery metaphors and make them sound almost poetic. But no song on Way to Normal does better than Bitches Ain't Shit off the 2006 LP Supersunnyspeedgraphic.
The piano lines should be the major focal point. This guy is great at his instrument, even if he'd rather show his comedic value most of the time. If you're not a fan, you will be completely thrown off by the classical prelude Before Cologne leading to the slow, honeyed orchestral piece Cologne. These little tidbits of virtuosity are reminiscent of the classically trained 1970s band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Some of the other songs (Dr. Yang Errant Dog Kylie from Connecticut) sound a lot like Paul McCartney's Band on the Run days. That is, if Sir Paul had been a cheeky, sarcastic back-talker.
Way to Normal is all about an artist not taking himself seriously but still having the talent to call himself an actual artist, not just an arrogant piece of fluff. Not many artists today can say the same.
17
Archives
Susan Tebben
200810088925midsize.jpeg
