Ben Folds - So There (2015) [24.96 FLAC]

  Genre: Rock, Classical
  Style: Indie , Alternative
  Source: WEB
  Codec: FLAC
  Bit rate: ~ 3,000 kbps
  Bit depth: 24
  Sample rate: 96 kHz

  01 Capable of Anything 
  02 Not a Fan 
  03 So There 
  04 Long Way to Go 
  05 Phone in a Pool 
  06 Yes Man 
  07 F10-D-A 
  08 I'm Not the Man 
  09 Concerto for Piano & Orchestra: Movement 1 
  10 Concerto for Piano & Orchestra: Movement 2 
  11 Concerto for Piano & Orchestra: Movement 3 

  So There finds the musician partnering with the experimental Brooklyn chamber ensemble yMusic on eight new tunes referred to as "8 chamber rock songs" on the record's packaging. It also includes a studio recording of his aforementioned three-movement "Concerto for Piano & Orchestra" with the Nashville Symphony. It turns out that yMusic's participation augments song textures without replacing anything uniquely Folds. His tremendously agile, rhythmic piano playing, also-agile melodies, and occasionally double-tracked, distinctive vocals are all still front and center. The album opens strongly with two memorable and thoughtful pop songs, "Capable of Anything," whose title refers to anything good and anything bad, and the seemingly tender "Not a Fan." The former is driven by (after melody) piano and drums, with deft string and woodwind embellishments; the latter is a piano-and-strings ballad that transforms into a harsh moment of clarity for the lyrics' protagonist. Another album highlight, "Phone in a Pool," addresses communication breakdowns and the lure of disconnecting ("When you've lived to be two hundred/Feel free to proffer your advice/Until that time here's my auto-reply"). The nerdiest and goofiest piece is easily "F10-D-A," an ensemble-punctuated music theory lesson in double-entendre. The piano concerto is approachable and dramatic, a Gershwin-esque, pop-influenced type of classical work