Next week, Ben Folds will return with So There, and while we’ve already heard standout cuts, “Capable of Anything” and “Phone in the Pool,” you can now stream the forthcoming album below via NPR.

So There is divided into two parts. First is a set of eight songs -- which are equal parts Folds’ inventive chamber pop, clever and sometimes devastating turns-of-phrase and signature witticisms (for the latter, see “F10-D-A") -- recorded with the New York City-based classical ensemble, yMusic, comprised of Rob Moose, CJ Camerieri, Gabriel Cabezas, Alex Sopp, Hideaki Aomori and Nadia Sirota.

Then, the album concludes with Folds’ 20-minute, three-movement piano concerto -- an ode to the American songbook, Broadway musicals and composers George Gershwin and Aaron Copland. The “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” was commissioned by the Nashville Ballet and Minnesota Orchestra and made its debut last year when it was performed by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Speaking with the Guardian earlier this summer, Folds noted that So There isn’t his appeal for acceptance from the classical music world.

“I would like it if people approved of me but I’ve been through the mill with all of it,” Folds said. “I just like making music for human beings and what I’m trying to put out there is not saying, ‘Please accept me into your classical music world.’ It’s just a record. I just want to leave a litter of music that I’m proud of when I get hit by a Mack Truck at 85 years old.”

So There is due out Sept. 11 via New West Records; you can pre-order a copy at Folds' website.

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