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Ben Folds Five is releasing The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, the group’s first album of new music in 13 years. The music’s genesis took place via a successful grassroots direct-to-fans campaign on PledgeMusic, where artists and fans work together with charities to create albums and other projects.The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind will be released worldwide on ImaVeePee Records/Sony Music Entertainment on September 18. Fans who’ve participated in the PledgeMusic campaign will receive an exclusive early delivery of the album.
The new Ben Folds Five tracks premiering on The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind include: "Erase Me"; "Michael Praytor, Five Years Later"; "Sky High"; "The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind"; "On Being Frank"; "Draw A Crowd"; "Do It Anyway"; "Hold That Thought"; "Away When You Were Here"; and "Thank You For Breaking My Heart".
A portion of the funds generated by album sales, and other BFF items ordered by fans through PledgeMusic, will be used to support Music Education and Music Therapy, a charity personally chosen by Ben Folds Five. PledgeMusic builds a charitable component into each of the campaigns running under its auspices.
Ben Folds Five–Ben Folds (piano), Robert Sledge (bass) and Darren Jessee (drums)–launched in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1994. The trio’s high energy gigs garnering an intensely loyal fanbase, BFF signed first with an indie before a move to the majors wrought 1997’s watershed Whatever And Ever Amen. A slice of pure pop perfection, the album introduced the ballad "Brick," broke the band commercially and sold more than two million copies worldwide. BFF recorded its last album, 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner, which included the single "Army," before disbanding in 2000. (The trio reunited for a one-off live performance of The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner on MySpace in 2008).
In 2011, the original three members of Ben Folds Five came together to record three new studio tracks for The Best Imitation Of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning Ben Folds anthology. The band’s magic rekindled in the new tracks, BFF gave its first concert in more than a decade to a spellbound audience at New York’s Mountain Jam Festival on June 2, 2012. In the wake of the group’s triumphal return at Mountain Jam, the group performed a short run of key US summer festival dates including Bonnaroo, Milwaukee Summerfest and Old St. Patrick’s Church Block Party in Chicago.
Ben Fold Five Tour Dates
September 13 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park Amphitheatre
September 14 New York, NY Central Park Rumsey Playground
September 16 Cary, NC Koka Booth Amphitheatre
September 18 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
September 19 North Charleston, SC North Charleston Performing Arts Center
September 21 Pensacola Beach, FL DeLuna Fest
September 23 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
September 24 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre
September 25 Houston, TX Bayou Music Center
September 28 Kansas City, MO Starlight
October 2 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit
October 5 Buffalo, NY Kleinhas
November 10 Melbourne, Australia Harvest Festival – Werribee Park
November 17 Sydney, Australia Harvest Festival – Parramatta Park
November 18 Brisbane, Australia Harvest Festival – Botanic Gardens
November 23 Bristol, England O2 Academy
November 24 Nottingham, England Rock City
November 26 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street
November 29 Manchester, England O2 Apollo
November 30 Glasgow, Scotland O2 Academy
December 1 Leeds, England O2 Academy
December 3 Birmingham, England O2 Academy
December 4 London, England O2 Academy Brixton
December 5 London, England O2 Academy Brixton
