Ben Folds is back, but you can be forgiven for missing the fanfare, because there hasn’t been much of it – this isn’t a typical major label release. As a warm-up to his next solo album, Folds has been trying out some works-in-progress on listeners through a series of EPs released only into the Japanese market (though you can order them from the links below). Folds has said that there’ll be a trio of these short releases, and some of the songs may appear on his next release on Sony, but some of them won’t – so once again, it’s interesting that we’re essentially listening to someone’s demos. But what demos!
We kick off with “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You”, a song with, if not lead single potential, then just plain single potential at the very least. Lyrically, it’s somewhat related to “Underground” – Folds rails against too much forced, self-conscious cool, and does it with an incredibly catchy tune and some hilarious lyrics (“Yeah, you’re the shit, but you won’t be it for long!”) right up there with “Rockin’ The Suburbs”.
“Learn To Live With What You Are”, “All You Can Eat” and “Rock Star” hit all of the prerequisite stylistic points of Folds’ work, but they’re not all that catchy musically – though “Rock Star”‘s lyrics (“you’ve got to give the people what they want”) just about make up for any perceived musical shortcomings. And in listening to the EP again, I found that “Rock Star” was growing on me pretty fast, though I’d put money on the former two going no further than this EP.
“Songs Of Love” is another example of Folds giving us a waltz, and it’s a good one – for something that’s really meant to be a “does this work?” recording, it’s remarkably finished, with a small string quartet (or a better-than-average imitation of one) giving it some extra 
atmosphere. Its place as the last song on the disc is no reflection on its quality – it’s a nice closing ballad in the vein of many such songs that Folds has closed past albums with.
In closing, if Sunny 16‘s stronger tracks are indicative of what’s going to be on Folds’ next full-length release (though there’s no guarantee that any of these songs will appear on that future album, at least not in this form), we’re in for a treat.
- There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You (4:17)
- Learn To Live With What You Are (4:26)
- All You Can Eat (3:24)
- Rock Star (4:25)
- Songs Of Love (4:32)
Released by: Epic
Release date: 2003
Total running time: 22:08
