Folds’ masterful new collection, What Matters Most, isn’t so much a statement as it is an offering, an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day. Recorded in East Nashville with co-producer Joe Pisapia, the album marks Folds’ first new studio release in eight years, and it’s a bold, timely, cinematic work, one that examines the tragic and the absurd in equal measure as it reckons with hope and despair, gratitude and loss, identity and perspective. The songs are bittersweet here, hilarious at times, but often laced with a quiet sense of longing and dread: a text message goes unanswered; an old classmate descends into the dark depths of internet conspiracies; a relationship unravels in the middle of a lake. And yet, taken as a whole, the result is an undeniably joyful record that refuses to succumb to the weight of the world around it, an ecstatic reminder of all the beauty and promise hiding in plain sight for anyone willing (and present enough) to recognize their moments as they arrive.

"More than anything, I wanted to make an album that was generous, that was useful," says Ben Folds - "I want you to finish this record with something you didn't have when you started" Indeed, Folds' masterful new collection, What Matters Most, isn't so much a statement as it is an offering, an open hand reaching out to all those wounded and bewildered by a world that seems to make less and less sense every day.

The soundtrack for About Time, the 2013 British romantic comedy from Love Actually writer and director Richard Curtis, dutifully reflects its story's time travel premise with a 17-song set of (mostly) previously released selections from the likes of The Killers ("Mr. Brightside"), Groove Armada ("At the River"), Amy Winehouse ("Back to Black"), and Nick Cave ("Into My Arms"). Ben Folds offers up a new, heavily orchestrated version of his sentimental 2001 ballad "The Luckiest," while ex-Dream Academy mastermind Nick Laird Clowes offers up a pair of wistful piano pieces ("Golborne Road" and "The About Time Theme") from his evocative score.

American singer, songwriter, and producer Ben Folds emerged in the mid-'90s as the leader of the power pop trio Ben Folds Five, before striking out on a successful solo career in 2001. His knack for crafting engaging melodies paired with lyrics that can go from heartbreakingly earnest to biting and sarcastic helped to fuel his slow dive into the mainstream, from piano-climbing college rock upstart to commercial crooner and likable (and knowledgeable) co-judge on NBC's hit a cappella singing competition series The Sing-Off. Since debuting in 1995 with the eponymous Ben Folds Five, Folds has released a string of acclaimed albums, including the platinum-selling Whatever and Ever Amen (1997), the chart-topping Songs for Silverman (2005) and Way to Normal (2008), and The Sound of the Life of the Mind (2012), the latter of which saw him reconvening Ben Folds Five and skillfully merging his snarky, punk-infused past with the more accessible, ballad-heavy output of his solo career. In addition to his own work, Folds has collaborated with a wide array of artists, including William Shatner, Sara Bareilles, and Regina Spektor, and authors Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman.