Album of the Week: Ben Folds’ Lonely Avenue

If a book could sing, the result would be Ben Folds‘ upcoming release Lonely Avenue. Folds has teamed up with the best-selling british author Nick Hornby on the album, creating a collaborative and creative mixture of pop melodies mixed with insightful prose as lyrics. Hornby provides the lyrics for the music written by Folds, and the 12 tracks serve as short stories that range in theme and plot.  The album has a feel to it like you’re listening to your favorite musical book on tape as it explores how music enhances literary structure.

Honrnby often uses musicians, rock music, and music lovers as main themes in his novels and stories (who could forget John Cusack and Jack Black bantering about the top 5 best albums of all time in the film adaption of his novel High Fidelity), and took this opportunity as a way to explore his inner-musician. The most interesting aspect of the album is the way that Folds has reflected Hornby’s lyrics in the melody and tone of his music. The album’s first single, “From Above”, is an upbeat and energetic track mixing synth beats and piano melodies, which compliments Hornby’s sarcastically humorous writing style. It’s a refreshing and new type of collaboration that should please both Folds and Hornby fans, as the two artists are proud of their work on Lonely Avenue.

Lonely Avenue is available on Amazon for $11.99, so why not get yourself a copy?

Reasons You Will Dig It:

• Spin Magazine says: “Lonely Avenue’s two knights of music nerd-dom use their disarming pop smarts to wryly sympathize with the hapless Playgirl cover boy. The empathy and humor run throughout: With Folds as his tuneful voice, Hornby describes a prim suburbanite’s tolerance of his porn-watching metalhead neighbor (“Your Dogs”); laments a singer forced to reprise his only hit about an ex (“Belinda”); and feels for a wheelchair-bound, Brill Building–era songwriter (“Doc Pomus”). It’s okay, man. It’s okay.” — William Goodman
• You can get the record as a CD, as a vinyl and CD, and a deluxe edition that includes the CD, four short stories by Hornby, and photos by Joel Meyerowitz in a hardbound, 152-page book.
• Nonesuch Records enjoys the album stating: “In their respective media, Folds and Hornby have eloquently illustrated the power that a humble pop song can wield to assuage loneliness or accentuate longing, to offer a pat on the back or a shoulder to cry on. Hornby—who has garnered a devoted following and consistent critical acclaim for such alternately hilarious and heartbreaking music-themed novels as High Fidelity, About a Boy and the more recent Juliet, Naked—sent over sheets of lyrics to Folds from London. The agile Folds—who first gained notice with the success of his guitar-less power pop trio, The Ben Folds Five, at the height of the grunge era—then set Hornby’s words to music at the Nashville studio he’s worked in for the last ten years, a venerable old orchestral room once owned by RCA.” — Michael Hill
• Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandson, is an influence on some of the tracks. There is no way that doesn’t sound interesting.

Other Albums Out Next Week:

• Thievery Corporation: It Takes A Thief
• Electric Six: Zodiac
• Seal: Commitment
• Maximum Balloon: Maximum Balloon