With 16 songs already recorded, piano man Ben Folds is wrapping up work on his full-length solo debut.

The former leader of no-guitar pop trio Ben Folds Five has been working on his as-yet-untitled album at Krell Studios in Adelaide, Australia, with producer Ben Grosse (Fuel, Filter). Recording should be finished within the next two weeks, Folds' management said, and the final product is expected to surface in late spring on 550 Music/Epic. How many of the 16 songs wind up on the album remains to be seen.

The titles of six tunes — "Annie Waits," "Carrying Cathy," "The Ascent of Stan," "Hiro's Song," "Losing Lisa" and "Fred Jones Pt. 2" — were revealed by Folds in a recent edition of "The Magical Armchair," an online newsletter distributed among his fans. He also hinted at the possible inclusion of a collaboration with former BF5 drummer Darren Jessee tentatively titled "The Wind Beneath My Sheets."

Folds plays piano, drums, and guitar on the album, the multifaceted musician said in "The Magical Armchair," but much more than that remains a mystery. He described the new material as "Songs that speed up and slow down. Words about what I'm thinking about." Fans of BF5's raucous rave-ups shouldn't be disappointed, however, as Folds hinted that "There [will be] elbows on pianos."

Even without an album, Folds has been active as a solo artist, writing songs, performing on a series of notorious, cameo-laden commercials for Priceline.com with actor William Shatner, and most recently contributing the song "Lonely Christmas Eve" to the soundtrack to "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

Folds has been living in Australia since marrying Frally Hynes in early 1999. The couple has two children, 17-month-old twins Louis Frances and Gracie Scott.

The other members of Folds' former band are staying active in the music scene as well. Jessee is playing the club circuit with a live band. Bassist Robert Sledge has been producing other acts in his Chapel Hill, North Carolina, studio, trying to assemble another band, and performing selected shows with ex-Squirrel Nut Zippers multi-instrumentalist Tom Maxwell and his new band, the Minor Drag (see [article id="1425664"]"Ben Folds Five Members Pursuing Other Interests"[/article]).

Formed in 1994, Ben Folds Five released three studio albums before officially calling it quits on October 31 (see [article id="1425665"]"Ben Folds Five Call It Quits"[/article]). The last recorded song by the band, a cover of Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," will appear on the Sun Records tribute album later this year.