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| Ben Lee, who in interviews has said that he prefers an open spirituality to organized religion, released Awake is the new sleep, filled with quirky lyrics, spoken and sung words, and loads of questions about love, life and death. The lyrics and vernacular provide a conversational tone, in Lee’s sing-songish delivery, that is both simple in delivery and layered in meaning. |
BEN LEE:
AWAKE IS THE NEW SLEEP
(2005) Music Review
— Music Review Index
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"You go to bed one night feeling that you’ve come to a dead end, that everything has been said and done, that there is no magic in the world...but the next morning you wake up - and everything’s changed." --Ben Lee
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| TRACKS -Windows Media |
| 1. Whatever It Is Listen
2. Gamble Everything For Love
Listen
3. Begin Listen
4. Catch My Disease Listen
5. Apple Candy Listen
6. Ache For You Listen
7. Into The dark Listen
8. No Right Angles Listen
9. Get Gotten Listen
10. Close I’ve Come Listen
11. The Debt Collectors Listen
12. We ‘re All In This Together Listen
13. Light Listen
14. I’m Willing Listen
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| CD
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Title:
Awake Is the New Sleep
Artist: Ben Lee
Label:
New West Records
Ben Lee has been a mainstay on alternative rock airwaves; it’s hard to believe the Australian singer/songwriter is still only 26. For album number six he comes full circle on a decade of recordings, working with producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins) who spearheaded the sound of Lee’s debut record Grandpaw Would in 1995. Awake… follows a comparable blueprint of 2002’s Hey You Yes You: uncomplicated, unassuming, no-gloss pop songs. But there is evidence of a newfangled wisdom in Lee and his sketches of songwriting dexterity, which include the distinctive pop-rocker ("Catch My Disease"), the persuasive ballad ("Get Gotten"), the adoring folk number ("The Debt Collectors") and an indulgently experimental nine-and-a-half minute opus ("Light"). Code one could be the riff-fully sanguine opener ("Whatever It Is") in which the author proposes we chase our instincts, then verifies on the ensuing 13 songs that he does just that. "They might tell you that you shouldn’t," sings Lee, "But do it. Whatever it is." --Scott Holter
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 Ben Lee, who in interviews has said that he prefers an open spirituality to organized religion, released Awake is the new sleep, filled with quirky lyrics, spoken and sung words, and loads of questions about love, life and death. The lyrics and vernacular provide a conversational tone, in Lee’s sing-songish delivery, that is both simple in delivery and layered in meaning.
 Beginning with “Whatever It Is,” Lee attempts to push or tempt the other into a new awareness of self that provides cause for ‘waking up.’ Sounding part self-help therapist and part-drug dealer, the song invokes the conversation that might have preceded Eve’s biting the first apple: “ There are places you can go to/yeah they’ll tell you that you shouldnt/ but do it- whatever it is.” Possibly the same ‘voice’ and possibly not, the message Lee provides is that the listeners should “Gamble Everything For Love.” While other people might try to influence your reality, Lee argues that their expectations matter less than love.
 Love comes through the community in “Begin,” where Lee admits that he has become a successful sinner but he also pushes for more as well. “ im thinking about the city/its living proof people need to be together/im thinking about how I just wanna open up/and give and give and give,” Lee sings. He seems to be gaining his motivation from ‘above,’ as he credits the Other: “ im thinking about my maker/and despite all this i know she wont give up on me.” Sin has a place in his worldview, but redemption does too.
 “Catch My Disease” pushes back toward nothingness, as Lee expresses a desire to leave his thinking aside and focus on nothing—this might merely be a lovelorn thought by someone whose desired doesn’t feel the same. His confusion in love continues in “Ache For You” but he seems to have found some peace of mind in “Into the Dark.” Lee says that he’s feeling better “ since i surrendered/you cant climb till/youre ready to fall” but it’s unclear whether that’s from fulfilled romantic love or divine inspiration.
 In “No Right Angles,” Lee says the straight and narrow have been on his mind and in comparison/opposition, he has felt the Other surrounding him as he comes into grace. He momentarily swerves from the divine for more of his own romantic wants in “Get Gotten” but returns in “Close I’ve Come,” as he sings “ one can only guess/what would happen if/i got all my questions answered.” Part of Lee’s belief system seems to include the need for the search and not having everything made clear. Information is part of the give and take in Lee’s spirituality.
 Skipping over “The Debt Collectors” and “We’re All In This Together,” “Light” serves a ‘benediction’ of sorts to the album. Lee expresses a relationship where the Other is teaching him how to live: “ you are the one who/brings the weather/you are a dream ive had forever/you know exactly what im wishing/youre gonna love me into submission.” Lee has presented a spirituality filled with exploration and love, and the need for the divine to invade everyday reality and make it a little more than human.
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BEN LEE |
 hi friends.
wake up. wake up. wake up. this is an album about waking up. you go to bed one night feeling that you've come to a dead end, that everything has been said and done, that there is no magic in the world...but the next morning you wake up - and everything's changed. i've been making records for twelve years. i started recording on a boom box in my teenage bedroom and haven't looked back since. i've had a few moments of glory, some moments of apparent hopelessness, and lots of time to realize that for some strange reason i just cant stop doing this thing called writing songs. but my relationship to music is changing too. i used to be fighting the world -- trying to prove something to someone (though i can't for the life of me remember what i had to prove, and to whom). but all of that has faded. music is joy now, and i'm looking for a different experience. connection. flow. faith. music. i love music. music is my path to waking up. what am i waking up from? was i really asleep? for how long? and what am i meant to do now? these are the questions that brought the songs on this album to life. i think i'm waking up into consciousness. from numbness to feeling. from dark to light. from the known into the unknown. i feel something big approaching. it's on the horizon. there's so little time. i'm not gonna waste it on whining and fighting ghosts. i wanna feel connected and alive. i want the music i make to be a celebration, a prayer, an invitation. these songs came quickly. i just tried to get out of their way. they are still teaching me lots of things, months after they were written and recorded. i'm glad to have been a part of this experience. the music is inviting me on strange adventures. it's asking me to dance. it wants to tell me all about how lucky i am to be at the feet of this awesome mystery called life. maybe some of you want to come along. i hope so. maybe there are others out there who can feel their hearts being opened wider and wider by some invisible force that is as seductive as it is terrifying. maybe i'm not the only one who wants to wake up. if so, here is the only path i know. music. - ben lee (Jan 2005)  Awake Is The New Sleep is Ben Lee's definitive album to date. It reunites him with producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins) and was recorded in Brad's home studio in Los Angeles. Along with Ben, the primary players were long time partner-in-crime Lara Meyerratken and guitar whiz McGowan Southworth. Special guests included Jason Schwartzman, Har Mar Superstar, Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and Jason Faulkner.
Ben Lee was born 26 years ago in Sydney, Australia. His mum remembers him spending most of his childhood sitting on the floor with a turntable, playing Rumours (Fleetwood Mac), Avalon (Roxy Music) and the Jack And The Beanstalk soundtrack over and over and over. Ben's musical coming out was at the age of 14 with a poppy, punk rock band called Noise Addict, circa 1993. "Discovered" by heavy hipsters Sonic Youth and The Beastie Boys the group's profile rose quickly. As Ben describes it, "It was the perfect teenage rock thing." But clearly more ambitious than his band-mates, it wasn't long before Ben began concentrating on a solo career.
His first album, Grandpaw Would was produced by Brad Wood and released in 1994 on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label, except in Ben's native Australia where it was released on Fellaheen. Much touring ensued (and continues to this day) with an illustrious and varied number of staunch supporters - Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Rufus Wainwright and Fugazi among many others. A second album, Something To Remember Me By ('97), was a mostly acoustic affair that accentuated Ben's salient writing ability. With '99's Breathing Tornados, Ben was first heard in full-flower: potent songs with electronic riffs and catchy choruses (and a platinum album in Australia). The adventurous, beats-heavy hey you. yes you was produced by Dan The Automator and was released in 2003. Never one to sit still, Ben's many tangents include duets with Kylie Minogue; writing key songs for Evan Dando's 2003 album, Baby I'm Bored; a collaboration with Ben Kweller and Ben Folds under the name 'The Bens' which begat both live shows and a stunning 4-song E.P.; establishing his own label imprint, Ten Fingers, for not only his own projects but work by others such as Montreal's beloved pop combo Pony Up!; and, in 2003, Ben made his feature film debut in the title role of Placid Lake in the Australian comedy, The Rage In Placid Lake, alongside Rose Byrne and Miranda Richardson. (from official site) Publicity:
Alison Zero @ Girlie Action 212.989.2222 x 107 alison@girlie.com
Trevor Jones @ Girlie Action 212.989.2222 x108 trevor@girlie.com
Traci Thomas @ New West Records 310.246.5766 traci@newwestrecords.com |
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