Ben Folds is all growed up.<\/p>\n
That’s one way to interpret the latest, noticeably more mature
\noffering from the modern master of piano-based rock. Another might
\nbe less charitable. Let’s face it — at a certain point after
\nseveral albums’ worth of sustained high quality, audience fear
\nbegins to set in. The drop-off is inevitable, goes the theory, so
\nthe question with each new outing becomes, is it here?<\/p>\n
Hold that thought.<\/p>\n
Let’s stipulate right up front that
\nSongs For Silverman<\/i> is demonstrably less aggressive in its
\napproach than past Folds outings, putting a premium on melody and
\nthoughtfulness over Folds’ earlier tendencies toward
\nhey-ma-look-at-me barrelhouse piano playing and the occasional
\npotty-mouthed rant. But while the songwriting seems to have grown
\nup a bit, the instrumentation remains classic Folds, built around
\nthe piano-bass-drums trio format he used so successfully with the
\nBen Folds Five, this time with Jared Reynolds (bass &
\nbackground vocals) and Lindsay Jamieson (drums & background
\nvocals) providing expert backing.<\/p>\n
The opening “Bastard” represents everything that’s great about
\nBen Folds, from its rippling melody line and foot-tapping rhythm to
\nits ingenious arrangement (who needs a guitar solo when you can
\nstick a Brian Wilson fantasia of stacked harmonies in its place?).
\nNot to mention a lyric that combines tart wit with a bruising yet
\ncompassionate wisdom in inimitable Folds fashion:<\/p>\n
“You get smaller as the world gets big The more you know, you
\nknow you don’t know shit ‘The Whiz Man’ will never fit you like
\n‘The Whiz Kid’ did So why you gotta act like you know when you
\ndon’t know? It’s okay if you don’t know everything.”<\/p>\n
When he’s not laying life lessons on you, Folds is perhaps best
\nat dissecting dysfunctional relationships. “You To Thank” is a
\nmusical romp through a doomed pairing, full of sardonic verbal
\nbullseyes from the pen of one of the keenest observers of human
\nbehavior on the scene. Still, it’s just a warm-up for the truly
\nmagnificent “I’ve Landed,” which offers a brilliant coda to the
\nsoul-sucking nightmare of a relationship that the narrator has just
\nexited from to return home, its rippling melody line mirroring both
\na scattering of notes from and the hard-earned wisdom of James
\nTaylor’s timeless “Fire & Rain.” (Favorite lyric: “She liked to
\npush me \/ And talk me back down \/ Until I believed I was the crazy
\none \/ And in a way I guess I was\u2026”)<\/p>\n
Speaking of wisdom, Folds gently eviscerates the hollow piety
\nand casual hypocrisies of the Bible Belt in “Jesusland,” imagining
\nthe title character wandering the streets of middle America in
\ndespair, watching as “They drop your name \/ But no one knows your
\nface \/ Billboards quoting things you never said \/ You hang your
\nhead and pray \/ For Jesusland.” Take that, Pat Robertson.<\/p>\n
As always, Folds balances his harsher judgments with a streak of
\ndeeply appealing sincerity. “Gracie” could have been a saccharin
\ndisaster, a cloying “my daughter’s cute so I’d better write her a
\nsong” throwaway. Instead, thanks to its unadorned simplicity and
\nFolds’ patented deadpan delivery of an emotionally-charged lyric,
\n“Gracie” is one of this disc’s musical triumphs. It is simply one
\nof the most timeless, genuine, unsentimentally affectionate songs
\never written by a parent about the way a child crawls inside your
\nsoul and makes herself at home.<\/p>\n
Even the lesser songs here have things to offer. “Trusted” nails
\nthe most basic relationship axiom of all: “If you can’t trust \/ You
\ncan’t be trusted.” “Late” offers another sweet yet unsentimental
\ntribute, this time to departed Folds contemporary Elliott Smith.
\nAnd “Give Judy My Notice” finds Folds’ acid wit at its apex,
\ndecorating a lush, harmony-rich arrangement with this classic
\nkiss-off line: “But Judy \/ I won’t be your bitch anymore\u2026”
\nLike the violin and cello on “Jesusland,” the steel guitar Folds
\nembellishes “Judy” with adds great depth and warmth to the
\narrangement.<\/p>\n
A final highlight rolls along as the closer “Prison Food” does a
\nslow build over Folds’ lyrical piano work and his new trio’s
\nterrific harmonies into a middle instrumental section that launches
\nand soars on the fuel of Reynolds’ fuzz-bass, Jamieson’s crashing
\nfills and repeat guest Buddy Baxter’s steel guitar accents. Simply
\nbeautiful stuff.<\/p>\n
(Note to Folds fans: The deluxe edition of this album is one of
\nthe best packages I’ve ever spent the extra cash on — a gorgeous
\nflip-book of terrific photos, plus a separate DVD disc that
\ncontains one of the most consistently entertaining and insightful
\n“making of” documentaries I’ve ever seen, plus a bonus disc of
\nchoice live cuts and rarities.)<\/p>\n
It must be said that if you’re picking up
\nSongs For Silverman<\/i> looking for a sequel to “One Angry
\nDwarf” or “Army” or even “Rockin’ The Suburbs,” you’re not going to
\nfind it. The sharp-tongued humor is there, but Folds has matured
\nwith his audience, channeling his inner wiseguy into a kind of
\ncurmudgeonly wisdom that’s both amusing and often devastatingly
\non-target.<\/p>\n
Oh, and as for that quote-unquote inevitable drop-off in
\nquality? Still waiting for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7015],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38379","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-ben-folds","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38379"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}