said Folds, 44, of last year's Lonely Avenue. There's something that we accomplished in terms of production and the arrangement that's pretty ace. It made it sound too easy.
Folds will display his efforts tonight at Ohio University's Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, where he will return after a near-sellout in October 2008.
After more than 20 years in the mainstream music industry, singer-songwriter Ben Folds has become his harshest critic - and even he will admit his latest album isn't too bad.
This one I don't hate as much said Folds, 44, of last year's Lonely Avenue. There's something that we accomplished in terms of production and the arrangement that's pretty ace. It made it sound too easy.
Folds will display his efforts tonight at Ohio University's Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, where he will return after a near-sellout in October 2008.
There are still about 700 seats left for the show, which is budgeted at $35,000, but should still be covered by ticket sales, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center and booking agent for the Performing Arts Series.
Folds' Lonely Avenue Tour will feature not only his own sophisticated pop songwriting, but also that of British novelist Nick Hornby. The author, best known for writing books-turned-movies such as High Fidelity and About a Boy, penned the poignant and poetic lyrics for Lonely Avenue. It was a welcome break for multi-instrumentalist Folds, who said he doesn't enjoy writing lyrics anyway.
All the lyrics that come out of my head - something about it is personal he said. Even if I can manage to sort of cheat them into a less personal sounding thing by assigning them to a character
there's still something that's personal
and then you're like
'This isn't fun anymore.'
But it was one of Folds' most personal songs, 1997's haunting abortion anecdote Brick written with now-defunct trio Ben Folds Five, that led to one of his most innovative projects. While surfing YouTube three years ago, a video of OU's Leading Tones a cappella group covering the song sans piano caught his attention. The discovery led to 2009's Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!, an album of collegiate a cappella acts singing Folds' songs.
The Leading Tones earned a personal visit from Folds as well as a spot on the album, said Ben Prater, a senior studying music education and music director for the group.
He was basically an expert in every aspect of music
Prater said of recording Brick with Folds in Glidden Hall. It did make us mature pretty fast.
Folds' musical mastery reached an even broader audience when he became a judge on NBC's a cappella reality competition The Sing-Off. Alongside Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, Folds imparted wisdom that comes from both his head and his heart, he said.
The way I take in music is
initially
my ears are hooked to the heart
and you feel it or you don't
he said. My job is to just enjoy the music or not ... but if something's not moving me
