Ben Lee: 2015

After nearly 25 years making music, ranging from his early days in the alt-rock Noise Addict, to pop stardom, to his two recent meditative, concept albums, Australian artist Ben Lee now marks two milestones in 2015: the twentieth anniversary of his solo debut, Grandpaw Would, and the tenth anniversary of Awake Is The New Sleep.

Although aware of these benchmarks, Lee is more focused on the present and the release of his tenth studio album, Love Is The Great Rebellion. On this latest album, he brings together his proven talent for writing a catchy song with a desire to write about love in the biggest sense of the word: spiritual, transcendent, and looking to a higher consciousness. In a world that often celebrates quite the opposite, this is indeed rebellious.

In Lee's return to Studio A, we discussed his “risky” new songs, why Jonathan Richman is his biggest musical hero, and how a mixtape of his songs, sung by an all-star roster of friends, sat on his hard-drive for over a decade and finally became available this year. It's yet another milestone to an already significant year for the artist, and another reason to happily welcome back Ben Lee.