College piano pop for a Brooklyn afternoon latte. The man just has taste.
I was in New York once. Next to my hotel was a classic diner where I ate breakfast every morning. One day Ben Folds was sitting at the next table and I made a razor-sharp combination that the TV crew that I had just seen setting up in the hotel foyer wanted to interview him, so he had to work up some energy next door first. Keyword: pancakes with bacon. But far from it
Folds trotted off in a different direction and I later embarrassed myself in front of a cameraman at the hotel with the nonchalant question: “Hey, what are you guys up to?” I had been looking for the Ben Folds album ROCKIN’ THE SUBURBS for the months before , for personal reasons, and was now excited about my celebrity sighting, wanted to know what he was promoting. It didn’t resolve.
An American songbook with personal, ironically embellished tracks
Since 2015, Folds hasn’t made a regular solo album, more like projects with a cappella choirs and the like. So now WHAT MATTERS MOST. How does it sound? Like Ben Folds. It’s another American songbook with personal, ironically embellished tracks. Somewhat bourgeois and musikhochschulesk.
But no problem, if you want and like Ben Folds you can get him back here, which isn’t too bad because he’s great in an Of Broadway way. He knows how to best use his piano skills and delivers. Reliable. I appreciate that. The best is the track “Winslow Gardens”, just a tip. Ben Folds says he was inspired by the litheness of Todd Rundgren and it shows. The man has taste.