Label: F2 Music
Release Date: 2002
Website: www.ben-lee.com
Ben Lee
- Hey You, Yes You
Dan MacIntosh
The cover photo of Ben Lee's third solo release pictures the
singer/songwriter's face divided into the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Such an illustration is appropriate, because ever since Lee began as a 16-year old Australian alternative pop sensation, he's remained a musical enigma to the wider music world. But Hey You, Yes You, in
spite of popular conceptions (and misconceptions) about its creator, holds together relatively well as a series of low key pop songs. Every piece fits, in other words.
The sequencing of this album flows like a series of mood changes. Lee is louder and more upbeat at the album's beginning, exemplified by "Dirty Mind" with its stripped down funk, as well as with the swampy psychedelic rock -- complete with fuzzed-out guitar -- of "Something Borrowed, Something Blue." Later, Lee gets a little dance-y (perhaps,
due to the presence of his producer, Dan The Automator) on "Music 4 The Young & Foolish" with its slight dance beat, and "No Room To Bleed," which rolls with a stuttering dance beat built upon rhythmic drums and keyboards. The album closes with three mainly acoustic songs. "Shine" is acoustic guitar-accompanied and speaks to the mistakes of youth; "In The Morning" is Nick Drake-y acoustic guitar folk with a few falsetto vocals in places; "Still On The Line" completes this release's softer song cycle with its distant and echo-y
vocal.
It's hard sometimes to know just which of Ben Lee's
many musical voices is speaking when he shouts out
posted 03.11.04
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Dan is the lifeline to banjo virtuosi everywhere (courtesy of Googlism). E-mail him at dmacinto@elite.com
2003 White Elephant
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