Searching for Normal.
Listening to Ben Folds is similar to watching one of those cringe inducing TV shows like The Office or Boston Legal, wincing at others’ discomfort while laughing at the same time. His third solo album, Way To Normal is a concept album about the break up of his marriage (he’s had four.) As he argues that it’s all her fault, he subtly acknowledges that he’s kidding himself. Sincerity has never been a problem from which he suffers.
Folds isn’t satisfied with being just a piano playing singer-songwriter. For all the heartbreaking ballads he’s written there are just as many propulsive, power-pop rave ups with a lot of heavy production flourishes. Way to Normal begins that way with “Hiroshima”, a rocker that is so much like Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” that he subtitles it “(b-b-b-benny hit his head.)” It’s about a common onstage mishap but he’s the first to actually write a song about it. With lyrics spiced with f-bombs, he rants about infidelity (“The Frownsong”), road rage (“Free Coffee”) and pet ownership (“Errant Dog.”) His wry wit is much more overt on “Bitch Went Nuts” which acts as its own punch line (don’t miss the intro to the song at the end of the track before.) The beautifully sad “Cologne” and the album’s closer “Kylie from Connecticut” both use that voice he turns on and off to melt away the irony and make you think he’s actually telling the truth.
The frantic rockers and slow, contemplative ballads on Way to Normal mimic the ups and downs of marital relationships. The most thought provoking is a duet with Regina Spektor in which Folds tells his wife that “You Don’t Know Me” and then admits that it might be the very reason they are still together. It would be funny if it weren’t so embarrassing.
Listen for songs from the album Way to Normal by Ben Folds all this week on Paul Shugrue’s new music show “Out of the Box” on Hampton Roads public radio 89.5 WHRV Mon. through Thurs. from 7 to 9 p.m., Sat. afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m. and on-demand at www.whrv.org/outofthebox.