Forming his own sort of anti-record company coup, Ben Folds has released the first of three private label EPs (available at his Web site.) This first entry, under the title Speed Graphic (which refers to the camera seen on the sleeve) opens with the Cure's "In Between Days," the first of three songs Ben Folds will be covering on these EPs (one on each EP to be released over the next few months.) Folds, while staying true to the Cure's sound, manages to inject an extra little dose of his hopeful optimism into the song - it's just a quality of his soft, youthful voice that he always sounds optimistic, even in the most dismal of surroundings.
And dismal is what follows "In Between Days," in the form of "Give Judy My Notice," a melancholy solo piano ballad in the same vein of "Fred Jones, Pt. 2" from Rockin' The Suburbs (and perhaps aimed at adding to the collection of woman-named songs in his canon.) "Protection" wisely follows with a bright, solid-chorded entrance that clearly displays Folds' love of Joe Jackson, which will figure prominently throughout the song in a way that I can't help but think of "Steppin' Out." "Dog" keeps things light, fulfilling the need for every Folds release to have something "whimsical" in nature as he details the life of his dog in the yard, and in some spots you can hear Folds straining to not break into Vince Guaraldi-inspired Peanuts themes. I can imagine exactly this happening in concert . . .
The mood is taken down several notches again by closing track "Wandering," and I can't help but wonder if this isn't a rut Folds is stuck in. There's nothing noticeably wrong with the song . . . it's well-played with his usual heartfelt conviction, but it just seems that this song-form is so easy for Ben Folds that maybe he should stretch out and attempt to make dramatic, non-balladic music. Perhaps on a full album "Give Judy" and "Wandering" wouldn't appear as morose as it does, but when there's only 5 selections on the release - and two of them are down-tempo - the general atmosphere of the set is pretty dark. This won't stop me from purchasing the other two, in hopes that this isn't a trend he's falling into, and hopefully it won't prevent you from investing in these either. I'm just a little bit of a let down that the result of Folds' first private release isn't as intense, personal, mature and yet somehow fun as previous releases have been. "Intense" and "personal," yes but fun? Not so much, unfortunately.
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