Ben Folds To Release New Album In September

Ben Folds’ new album, So There, is set for release on September 11. This will be the first album for Folds on his new label New West Records. The album was recorded in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and his own historic Grand Victor Sound (RCA Studio A) in Nashville. It includes the debut recording of the 21-minute “Concerto For Piano and Orchestra,” with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero. The original idea for this three-movement concerto came from a commission from the Nashville Ballet along with the Nashville Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra, to create original music for a brand new ballet.

“I don’t recall ever being quite so excited about an album I’m making,” Folds said. “I’ll let you decide if that’s a good thing or not. It’s just that we don’t often get to make a record that we’ve never heard before. The arrangements you will hear on this record are straight up rock – not ornamentation. The odd instrumentation – piano, cello, viola, violin, flute/piccolo/alto flute, trumpet/French horn, and clarinet/bass clarinet, with no bass and more often than not, no drums – is yielding something that I can’t wait to release. It’s a pop record, if that’s what you call what I write.”

Folds will be playing Bonnaroo on June 12 at at The Greek in Los Angeles on June 27. A fall tour and more dates into 2016 are being planned now.