Ben Folds’ seventh album, “Lonely Avenue,” delivers Folds’ signature style of piano with a twist of British literary work.

Working with British novelist Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity,” “About A Boy”), Folds provides the music to Hornby’s lyrics.

The collaboration provides an interesting new take on Folds’ singer-songwriter style of music. However, like much of Folds’ past albums, each track tells a story, with themes of hope, love and, in one song, political gossip.

For fans of Folds’ earlier work in “Whatever and Ever Amen” (1997), “Picture Window” on “Lonely Avenue” is a lot like “Brick,” dealing with the emotions of a dying loved one.

“Picture Window” tells the story of a London New Year’s Eve spent in a hospital with a loss of hope. If you choose to buy the physical album rather than downloading it, there is a booklet inside detailing each song. For “Picture Window,” Hornby writes: “There’s no story behind the song, the story’s in the song. The music is faster than I imagined it would be, but that just means that Ben can break your heart quicker.”

However, not all of the tracks on the album are as melancholy. “Levi Johnston’s Blues” is anything but. In fact, it’s pretty hilarious. The song follows Levi Johnston, the ex-boyfriend of Bristol Palin, whose mother is former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The song’s chorus was inspired by content from Johnston’s Facebook page, and it shows a different side to Bristol Palin’s pregnancy scandal: “Mother-in-law? No, we ain’t getting married.”

Hornby’s knack for storytelling really comes through in the album’s single “From Above.” The song is about the idea of two soulmates whose paths cross several times, but they never meet: “Sure, we all have soulmates, but we walk past them everyday.”

For fans of Folds’ music or Hornby’s writing, “Lonely Avenue” will not disappoint. If you choose to buy the album, the physical copy provides an insight into the collaboration between Folds and Hornby that you wouldn’t get otherwise.