Photo by Ben Kaye
Ben Folds has reinvented himself once again, this time by teaming up with New York-based ensemble yMusic for a collaborative LP. So There won’t be here until September 11th via New West Records, but the album goes up for pre-sale tomorrow, July 17th, on BenFolds.com. Those who opt in early will get an instant download of lead single “Capable of Anything”, as well as the newly released “Phone in a Pool”.
The new track is an exercise in subtle chamber pop, adhering closer to the slower material from Ben Folds Five’s earlier career than anything that immediately hints that Fold’s is being back by a small orchestra. Piano of course plays a lead role, but strings that are alternatively plucked and short-bowed punctuate throughout. As for the song’s meaning, it’s pretty clear right there in the title. Folds told the Wall Street Journal that he fed up with feeling like he constantly had to answer his cellphone, especially when he had just been on stage. “Realized that was silly and impulsively tossed it [into the hotel pool].” Those feelings and that incident is recalled right in the lyrics: “Can’t you people function for a little while/ Without me bouncing off the satellite for a night?”
Listen in below:
