Hope is a bastard

This Tuesday, the 28th, Ben Folds' new album entitled Lonely Avenue comes out, and I'm here to tell you that it's really really good. After 2008's Way To Normal came out, I was a little let down. It just didn't sound like the Ben Folds I'd grew to know and love. So I guess it's a little odd that i like this new album so much, since Folds didn't write the songs this time around. Writer and novelist Nick Hornby penned all the lyrics, and Folds set them to music. And I think that might be the key. Without having to worry about writing the lyrics, he could concentrate on solid piano-driven arrangements that really fit the tone of each story that the Hornby is telling with his words. Be it the uptempo pop-sounding Your Dogs, or the slow ballad with massive building strings of the first single Picture Window, the whole album sounds like a return to form and I'm loving every minute of it. If the last album turned you off a bit, fear not because Lonely Avenue is as solid as you can get.