Ben Folds and yMusic
In Concert 2015-2016
Reviewed by: Geno Thackara
With any new Ben Folds recording (or tour for that matter), one natural question is “What’s he up to this time?” The man’s spent his career bouncing like a musical pinball: he’s offered piano-trio pop, orchestral grandeur, satirical rock and roll, electrifying solo performances, pensive balladry and a bunch more things I’m forgetting at the moment. (On the other hand, it’s so consistently inventive and fun that the best answer is usually “it doesn’t matter – just go enjoy it.”)
2015 started a collaboration with the virtuosic chamber sextet yMusic – a dynamic and yet natural step for a guy who’s likely to draw on classical music or Gershwin as much as Elton John. All involved share old-time sophistication and compositional smarts while keeping the freewheeling spontaneity of non-classical music. Their studio album So There combined Folds’ piano concerto alongside a jointly written set of classy semi-orchestral pop tunes. If some pop fans were hesitant about that hybrid, they should find the lineup more palatable here in front of an audience and without the concerto.
Three older Folds tunes get revamped to splendid results. “Steven’s Last Night in Town” always had some Broadway swing to it, so it’s perfect for some extended improvising with a big dose of raunchy cabaret trumpet. “Erase Me” likewise blended jaunty and jaded already, so hearing the peppy falsetto refrain “what the fuck is this?” over chamber strings and horns is just par for the course. Once Folds muses about time to “start a new effing life” on the closing selection “Effington,” the breezy bombast of the Way to Normal version becomes a thundering romp worthy of any formal concert hall, and without losing any of the humor.
One could quibble that the majority of In Concert 2015-2016 overlaps with So There, but this recording seems suited to an even wider audience than that one. The new-old songs are startlingly fresh and the new-new ones further benefit from the chemistry that only happens onstage. Heartfelt or silly (or often both at once), it’s a fascinating listen that remains fun, funny and often effing brilliant.
Rating: Bad-Ass
