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imply put, Ben Folds is at it again. No, not
a new album, but with a series of
EPs. The newest one is called Sunny
16 , and it's a five song disc with plenty of classic Ben
Folds for your listening pleasure.
Ben is a North Carolina native and the brainchild behind Ben
Folds Five , who
achieved brief commercial success
with the hit ?Brick? in 1998.
Since then, Ben has been on his own
developing a huge ?indie rock? following,
singing his real life songs and banging
out the pop tunes on the piano like almost no one else does.
Sunny 16 is no different. The opening track ?There's Always Someone
Cooler Than You? is a classic piano pop song. The lyrics ?Yeah,
you're the shit. But you won't be it for long/ Oh, there's always
someone cooler than you? wonderfully characterize Ben's ability
to play the underdog in his songs. ?Learn To Live With What You
Are? is a ballad, singing again about truth and real life. The
thing that makes Ben Folds so likeable is that you can always relate
to his songs, whether you feel that way now, or did while growing
up.
The song I can most relate to is the third song on the EP, entitled ?All
You Can Eat?. The song satires America and what a ?wonderful? country
we have become. Ben takes shots at everything from loud talkers,
to SUVs, to Wal-Mart, and really makes you take a look around and
think. Most of Ben's songs are funny and light hearted, but ?All
You Can Eat? is more political and sobering than what you'd normally
expect from the happy poppy piano master. Lines like ?God made
us number one cause he loves us the best, but he should go bless
someone else for a while and give us a rest,? really make you think
about your day to day life and the things around you.
The EP gets a little slow in the last two songs, but it really
doesn't lack anything other than groundbreaking new music. Ben
doesn't come up with anything new on Sunny 16, but the jury is
out on whether that even matters. He's still the lovable old geeky,
rednecked indie kid, cursing and banging on the piano, that we
have come to know and love.
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