SLEIGHER

'Christmas is constant,' says Ben Folds. 'Allowing you to take stock of what''''s
different, to understand who you are and all the ways you''''ve grown and changed.'
That notion lies at the heart of Folds'''' brilliantly titled new holiday 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 longing as it explores the variety of ways the yuletide season
marks the chapters of our lives. The songs are playful here, full of humor and
cheer, but they''''re also laced with an inescapable sense of melancholy, a looming
darkness that always seems to hover around the periphery of those late December
nights. Folds'''' performances, meanwhile, flirt with the standards while stretching
the boundaries of tradition, at times offering up flashes of Vince Guaraldi and
Burt Bacharach while still remaining true to Folds'''' singularly virtuosic brand of
off-kilter indie pop. The result is 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 challenging'time of the year.