Honesty is refreshing. And with the current music scene saturating us with boy bands, divas, and "new" metal, it's nice to hear Ben Folds willing to admit that not only is he targeting middle-class suburbanites with his music, but that he's one of them, as well.

Folds' latest album, Rockin' The Suburbs -- his first since the dissolution of the offbeat, yet dynamic trio Ben Folds Five -- is a beautifully constructed and heart-breakingly melodic pop manifesto which seems to say, "I have no reason to be angry...so why pretend?". Armed with his trusty Baldwin piano, Folds has cranked out twelve new tunes sure to please all of the trusty fans of the four albums put out by his old band. Not as barbaric as the old Ben Folds, and not quite as experimental as the band's last record, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner or his first solo project entitled Fear of Pop, the new record is simple, to the point, and amazingly catchy.

The album's first two songs ("Annie Waits" and "Zak and Sara" -- incidentally, four other songs -- six total -- feature proper names in the title) recall the piano bravado of a young Billy Joel or Randy Newman, while sticking with Folds' obsession with telling "slice of life" stories of people (some specific, some not) he has known. "Fred Jones Part 2", which features backing vocals by Joe McCrea of Cake, and "The Ascent of Stan" talk about aging, while the ballad, "Still Fighting It" is a father's message to his newborn son. He shows his trademark Broadway-esque arranging techniques in "Carrying Cathy", while his omnipresent humor and wordsmanship -- which is heard throughout the album -- definitely takes center stage on the album's hilarious title track.

Folds played every instrument on the album, and even collaborated with his wife, Australian model Frally Hynes, on the break-up song, "Gone". With full creative control and a beautiful wife to write with and about (the album's closing track, "The Luckiest" is an unabashed valentine to Hynes), why should Ben Folds be angry?