Sleigher

Description

"Christmas is a constant," says Ben Folds. "It allows you to take stock of what is different, to understand who you are and all the ways you have grown and changed." This notion is at the heart of Folds' new Christmas collection, Sleigher. Built on an eclectic mix of originals and reimagined classics, the album examines the passage of time through the lens of Christmas, reflecting on memory, loss, and nostalgia while exploring the various ways the holiday season marks the chapters of our lives. The songs are playful here, full of humor and joy, but they are also imbued with an inescapable sense of melancholy, an impending darkness that always seems to linger at the edges of these late December nights. Folds' performances flirt with standards while pushing the boundaries of tradition, occasionally offering flashes of Vince Guaraldi and Burt Bacharach while remaining true to Folds' uniquely virtuosic brand of quirky indie pop. The result is less a Christmas album by Ben Folds than a Ben Folds album set at Christmas, a meditation on the inexorable turning of the calendar and our ever-evolving selves, as observed during the most wonderful and challenging time of the year.