Ben Folds Announces His First Christmas Album ‘Sleigher’ with Two Yuletide Singles

Fall is finally here, Halloween is looming on the horizon, and the Christmas albums are starting to hit shelves and streaming services around the world. This year, Ben Folds is among the artists releasing their first Yuletide collections. However, his is a little different. Made up of mostly original songs balanced by a handful of holiday classics, Sleigher drops next month via New West Records. Today, Folds shared two tracks from the collection—“The Christmas Song” and an original featuring Lindsey Kraft, “We Could Have This.” Hear both tracks below.

Sleigher isn’t your average Christmas album. Instead, it is more a “Ben Folds record set at Christmas, a meditation on the inexorable turning of the calendar and our ever-changing selves as observed at the most wonderful—and sometimes challenging—time of year,” according to press materials.

Ben Folds Reflects on the Christmas Season and Sleigher

Ben Folds spoke about his new holiday album and the season in a press release. “Christmas is constant,” said Folds. “Allowing you to take stock of what’s different, to understand who you are and all the ways you’ve grown and changed,” he added.

“There’s something about Christmas that really pushes you to ask, ‘Who am I now? How did I get here?’ You can look back on Christmases from your childhood and see the progression, or you can zoom out and look back at Christmas songs from the ‘30s and ‘40s and ‘50s and see we’ve evolved socially and culturally,” Folds explained. “Having that consistent framework is really illuminating. I love those holiday classics that are totally broad and timeless, but I’ve only ever been able to be myself, and I realized the most generous thing I could do with this album was write the best songs I could, no matter where that took me. Anything else just wouldn’t ring true.”

Sleigher Tracklist and Information

Sleigher features seven new original songs from Folds. Additionally, it contains three covers—“The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme and Robert Wells, “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle” by Burt Bacharach, and “You Don’t Have to Be Santa Claus” by the Mills Brothers.

The album will be available across streaming platforms, on CD, and on standard black vinyl on October 25. Additionally, several limited edition vinyl variants will be available at various retailers. Barnes & Noble will exclusively carry the Rudolph Red autographed edition, independent retailers will carry an autographed Coke Bottle Clear variant, and New West Records will carry an exclusive Evergreen Green autographed variant. Standard editions and the Evergreen Green pressing are available for pre-order through New West now.

Tracklist:

1. “Little Drummer Bolero”
2. “Sleepwalking Through Christmas”
3. “Me and Maurice”
4. “Christmas Time Rhyme”
5. “Waiting for Snow”
6. “We Could Have This” featuring Lindsey Kraft
7. “The Christmas Song”
8. “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle”
9. “Xmas Aye Eye”
10. “You Don’t Have to Be Santa Claus”

Featured Image by Shervin Lainez