College Times

Media Credit: Courtesy Sony BMG Records

Ben Folds’ Way to Normal, deceptively titled, isn’t actually the piano man’s go at playing the straight man.

2005’s stoic Songs for Silverman filled that role, as Folds’ personal strife – including a then-impending, now-finalized divorce – spawned a reflective, sometimes regretfully somber side that had yet to be seen before. Knowing what he was going through now, it’s hard to blame the guy.

Actually, Way to Normal steers clear of normalcy in the classical sense. It’s as humorous as it is life-affirming, a sparkling, theatrical rocket straight from the brain of the good ole’ goofball Folds, instead of the mopey version.

“You Don’t Know Me” is vintage Folds fun, a bouncy pop gem with Regina Spektor vocals sprinkled on like powdered sugar. Same goes for fuzzed-out piano-pounder “Dr. Yang.”

Folds can still bring the salt, too, as he unsheathes his razor-tongue on the hilarious “Bitch Went Nuts” (“She stabbed my basketball and the speakers to my stereo.”) No one does bitter quite as funny or memorable as Folds.

The somber “Cologne” – with its references to headline-grabber Lisa Nowak, the diabolically jealous diapered astronaut who drove cross-country to try to kill her boyfriend – and the string-splashed, cascading “Kylie from Connecticut” serve as emotional paperweights, but the remainder is bubbly enough to float out the window.

Way to Normal is painless piano pop at its peak, a toe-tapper spattered with wit and just the right amount of self-deprecation.

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