As a whimsical piano guy, it's frankly amazing that Ben Folds has never released a Christmas album — but that will finally change on October 25, when Folds releases Sleigher through New West Records.
Folds penned seven original tunes for the 10-song album, which is fleshed out with covers of Burt Bacharach's "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle," the Mills Brothers' "You Don't Have to be a Santa Claus" and the holiday staple "The Christmas Song." According to a press release, it's "not so much a 'Ben Folds Christmas Record' as it is a Ben Folds record set at Christmas, a meditation on the inexorable turning of the calendar and our ever changing selves as observed at the most wonderful — and sometimes challenging — time of year."
It was self-produced by Folds and recorded by Joe Costa in Nashville and Los Angeles. Folds said in a statement, "There's something about Christmas that really pushes you to ask, 'Who am I now? How did I get here?' You can look back on Christmases from your childhood and see the progression, or you can zoom out and look back at Christmas songs from the '30s and '40s and '50s and see we've evolved socially and culturally. Having that consistent framework is really illuminating. I love those holiday classics that are totally broad and timeless, but I've only ever been able to be myself, and I realized the most generous thing I could do with this album was write the best songs I could, no matter where that took me. Anything else just wouldn't ring true."
Below, check out Folds's version of "The Christmas Song," plus the original duet "We Could Have This" with Lindsey Kraft. The album is available to pre-order here.
Sleigher:
1. Little Drummer Bolero
2. Sleepwalking Through Christmas
3. Me and Maurice
4. Christmas Time Rhyme
5. Waiting for Snow
6. We Could Have This (feat. Lindsey Kraft)
7. The Christmas Song
8. The Bell That Couldn't Jingle
9. Xmas Aye Eye
10. You Don't Have to Be a Santa Claus