Legacy Recordings Announces the Online Debut of House 8/23

With The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, a career-spanning anthology of the music of Ben Folds arriving October 11, Legacy Recordings is proud to announce the release of "House," the first new studio track from Ben Folds Five in more than 11 years, streaming on NBC.com, beginning Tuesday, August 23. Ben is returning to NBC's "The Sing-Off" this fall as a celebrity judge.

"House," the first single from The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, is one of three new Ben Folds Five tracks recorded in 2011 especially for this collection, marking the trio's first official studio recordings of original material since 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner (Ben Folds Five reunited for a one-off live performance of the album in 2008). The other new BFF tracks -- "Tell Me What I Did" and "Stumblin' Home Winter Blues" -- are available on the three-disc retrospective.

For the cover of his first major career-spanning retrospective, Ben Folds commissioned a new work of art from Opie Otterstad. Renowned for his iconic high-energy sports paintings (and a distinctive brushless palette-knife technique), Opie has been a lifelong fan of Ben's music, attracted to the passion and intensity of Ben's sound, attitude and aesthetic. In making the cover, Opie literally "deconstructed" an old dilapidated piano he found on Craig's List, ripping out the strings and hammers and keys to use as physical, emotional, psychological and compositional elements in his 36" x 24" portrait of Ben. "I wanted it to tell a story," says Opie, who uses the terms "calm" and "violent" when discussing art and Ben's music.

The most comprehensive and definitive Ben Folds collection ever assembled, and first-ever domestic overview of Folds' music, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective is remastered from original master tapes, bringing together Ben's biggest hits, deep catalog fan favorites, hidden treasures, and collectible rarities while premiering the first newly recorded Ben Folds Five tracks in 11 years.

Available as a single disc or in an expanded three disc set, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective features liner notes and track-by-track song annotations by Ben Folds. Fans purchasing the three-disc expanded edition of The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective will be given an individual code redeemable for the "Free Folds Five" EP from the Ben Folds '55' Vault [55 ultra-rarities available for purchase exclusively on the site-territory restrictions apply*... *Ben Folds 55 Vault only available in the following territories: Australia (AU), Austria (AT), Canada (CA), Germany (DE), Indonesia (ID), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Netherlands (NL), New Zealand (NZ), Singapore (SG), South Africa (ZA), South Korea (KR), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), United Kingdom (GB), United States (US)].