am.fm.pm is repping Boston for a few days, and was lucky enough to catch Ben Folds with the Pops (under Keith Lockhart) at Symphony Hall on Friday night. Beautiful as expected, the real highlight of the show was a pair of songs he premiered from a project he's been working on with Nick Hornby- author of High Fidelity and A Long Way Down. As Folds described it to the audience, Hornby has been providing him with lyrics, and the two have been volleying rough mp3s back and forth since early '09.

Massive BF fan though I am, 2008's Way To Normal was a step backwards for Ben, particularly on the heels of the three phenomenal Super/Sunny/Speed EPs and Songs For Silverman- when his music slips from the personal to the introspective, it's simply not as interesting. Collaboration has always been a forte of his however, and Hornby's knack for obsessive, hyper-literate protagonists is a dovetail fit for Folds' pop reverence. Color me hugely excited for this album.

Super-'sclusive bonus demo version of one of the aforementioned tracks (lovingly ripped from a video @ Sydney Morning Herald) is below the full show set list. Here's hoping Hornby is cool with it. (* denotes songs performed without the Pops.)

1. Effington
2. Lullabye
3. Smoke
4. All U Can Eat
5. The Ascent of Stan
6. Landed
7. Zak and Sara
8. Gracie
9. Cologne
10. Jesusland
11. Not the Same
12. Picture Window (Hornby collab.)*
13. Belinda (Hornby collab.)*
14. Steven's Last Night in Town
15. Fred Jones, Part 2
16. Narcolepsy
17. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
18. The Luckiest*
19. Army*
20. Rockin the Suburbs*

Ben Folds & Nick Hornby "Picture Window" (Demo)