Awake is the new Sleep
Ben Lee

I remember the first time I heard the first few seconds of Cigarettes will kill you.

I was hooked right away. It seemed so refreshing. Undeniably pop. But also undeniably accentric. So I bought the album. And since then, I've bought his next album. And then I went to see him play with the other Bens. In this show he was, I must say, the least fun part. He seemed awkward. His jokes just weren't funny. And out of the three, he was the least flexible musically. He could only play the guitar for one thing. The others played guitar, piano, drums. He seemed the odd one out trying to fit in. There was just a hint of 'tryhard' in him somehow. But I've always had a soft spot for Ben Lee and his music.

I recently named Breathing Tornadoes as one of the ten most influential albums in my life. It's a special album - the closest thing he had to a mainstream breakthrough. Not to everyone's taste, I know, but I've met others who reminisce about the album with great fondness. His next effort, Hey you yes you, had some nice songs in it. It had the same Ben Lee signature to it. But ultimately it was less consistent and emotionally hollow.

Now this latest effort is a great comeback. After his breakup with Claire Danes and a somewhat stagnating career, he's said:

"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.

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. This is an album about waking up."

Here's my take on it. This is a major leap for him, musically. It's that good. It's like he's found a voice he's finally happy with. No longer concerned about trying to establish himself or trying to mimic someone else. The most impressive thing about this album is how effortless it sounds. Much more stripped down than his last two and much more consistent. Make no mistake though, this still sounds like Ben Lee so if you never had an interest in him before, this probably won't convert you. But I still urge you to try it.

It's more upbeat than his previous ones. It's happy. It's positive in an awkward and honest way. But at the same time, the pain is obvious. It's like the smile that appears on your face after you've had a good cry. When someone places a hand on you and tells you that everything's gonna be alright. Not the first time that you hear the words. But the first time that you believe them - when you finally get it.