Dave Wallace - 5/1/2012

What do you get when you cross a successful American singer-songwriter with a hugely popular and award-winner British writer and novelist? Apparently, the answer is "Lonely Avenue", a collection of eleven tracks that marry the words of Nick Hornby (best known for 'Fever Pitch' and 'About a Boy') with the music of pianist and vocalist Ben Folds (he of Ben Folds Five fame).

Surprisingly, the album is far from being the Frankenstein's-monster mishmash that the description suggests. Covering subjects as diverse as two star-crossed lovers who never quite get together, the innermost thoughts of Sarah Palin's almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston, the flagging career of a has-been one-hit-wonder and the bittersweet hope-against-hope that thrives on a cancer ward, Lonely Avenue sits comfortably with the rest of Folds' body of work in that it tackles unusual subjects, but in a heartfelt, sincere way - and accompanied by some fantastic piano tunes.

In fact, if I hadn't been told that Hornby had contributed to the album, I might have believed it was another solo Folds outing. The writing is certainly just as smart and original as Folds normally tends to be, mixing some idiosyncratic subject matter with the odd joke or two, only to hit you with unexpected emotional content that feels like a punch in the gut - especially when it's set to such seductive music.

Folds experiments with quite a few different styles here: there's the 1980s retro electronica of the opening track, "A Working Day", in which both Hornby and Folds get to hit back at their armchair critics whilst also admitting to a certain amount of insecurity about their work; the sweeping, elegant, heartbreaking beauty of "Picture Window"; the Burt Bacharach pastiche of "Belinda"; and the tubthumping macho shouting of "Levi Johnston's Blues". Yet for all their differences in style, all of the tracks feel comfortable nestling beside one another, with the changes in tone serving as more of a palate-cleanser than a distraction.

Turning to Hornby's contribution, the biggest compliment that I can pay him is that his lyrics are as insightful and original as I've come to expect from Folds' music. Many of the songs are themed around relationships, but Hornby always manages to find an interesting angle rather than the usual dull boy-meets-girl. Among my favourites are "Claire's Ninth" (about a birthday party for a nine-year-old girl, hosted by her now-divorced parents), "Practical Amanda" (an ode to the resolutely practical nature of Hornby's own wife, contrasted against his own head-in-the-clouds approach to life), and "Password" (in which a young man trying to guess his girlfriend's e-mail password realises that he knows everything about her - except for the REALLY important stuff).

Having expected this album to be something of a curate's egg - a hodge-podge of oddities thrown together as more of an experiment than a polished and thoughtfully put-together record - I'm pleased to report that it's not only a good listen in its own right, but it's also among the best albums of Ben Folds' career, and would also serve as a great introduction to his music to anyone who's looking for a place to start from.