Album Review: Ben Folds and Nick Hornby Lonely Avenue

Ben Folds collaboration with Nick Hornby, album cover called <i>Lonely Avenue</i>. Photo / Supplied

Rating: 3 out of 5

Ben Folds' latest collaboration with English novelist Nick Hornby was always going to be gimicky.

Hornby's clever words paint the characters and Folds' jolly orchestra set the mood - so if Hornby writes about being in love with Saskia Hamilton, whose name he knows only from a book's spine, and Folds decides to sing it as a ridiculous Queen-meets-disco hit, so be it.

It does sound like an overly-verbose, Playschool soundtrack in parts, so is best digested in small doses.

-TimeOut