Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, 'What Matters Most' marks Folds' first new studio release in eight years, and it's a bold, timely, cinematic work, one that examines the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet here, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake. And yet, taken as a whole, the result is an undeniably joyful record that refuses to succumb to the weight of the world around it, an ecstatic reminder of all the beauty and promise hiding in plain sight for anyone willing (and present enough) to recognise their moments as they arrive.
Track Listing:
1. But Wait, There's More - Ben Folds
2. Clouds With Ellipses (Feat. Dodie) - Ben Folds
3. Exhausting Lover - Ben Folds
4. Fragile - Ben Folds
5. Kristine from the 7th Grade - Ben Folds
6. Back to Anonymous - Ben Folds
7. Winslow Gardens - Ben Folds
8. Paddleboat - Ben Folds
9. What Matters Most - Ben Folds
10. Moments (Feat. Tall Heights) - Ben Folds
Year of Production: 2023
