Seabass Says:: Ben Folds is an Evil Genius

Not too long ago, I wrote about how much I was looking forward to the album "Lonely Avenue," a collaborative effort between one of my favorite authors, Nick Hornby, and one of my favorite musicians, Ben Folds. After having some time to play through the album a bunch of times, I can say that it lived up to my expectations. Hornby's lyrics provide his usual self deprication ("A Working Day"), humor ("Levi Johnston's Blues"), interesting take on the awkward moments in life ("Claire's Ninth"), and biting honesty ("Picture Window" "Belinda"). I think Ben Folds is the perfect musician to bring Hornby's words to life. There has always been a playful juxtaposition between happy/sad and sincerity/humor in Folds' music. He is a man who knows exactly what he's doing with each note, each goofball idea, and every single strike of the piano keys. The man is an evil genius...I bet he has some kind of crazy music lab with beakers and bunsen burners going 24/7.

In my previous post about this album, I mentioned that "Picture Window" sounded like "pure awesome carried in a bag made of fantastic" and I'm thinking I might have undersold it. "Picture Window" is the type of song that grabs you by the tear ducts from note one and dares you not to give in to the urge. I think Ben Folds is at his best when he slows down and delivers the soul searching melancholy of his piano pop. I'm talking about the raw feeling of songs like "Philosophy," "Brick," "Evaporated," "We're Still Fighting It," and "Landed." Hornby and Folds have tapped into that rawness brilliantly with "Picture Window". This thing just crushes me every time I hear it. It isn't a fast song, but in the words of Nick Hornby himself, "There's no story behind the song - the story's in the song. The music is faster than I'd imagined it would be, but that just means that Ben can break your heart quicker."

Ben Folds - Picture Window