Ben Lee had barely cracked the puberty code when he fronted renowned Aussie alt-rock combo Noise Addict, and as a well-weathered 16-year-old, he began his debut solo album, the mature yet still naive Grandpaw Would. Lee’s third album, Breathing Tornados, garnered best male artist and album of the year nominations in Australia. After 2002’s big-selling hey you. yes you., Lee started his own label and released the most upbeat album in his increasingly dark catalog, 2005’s Awake Is The New Sleep, requiring him to compose acceptance speeches for best male artist, best independent release and single of the year wins at home. Lee’s impressive string of successes continued with 2007’s Ripe, but the streak stopped with 2009’s The Rebirth Of Venus. The quasi-concept album of Lee’s ruminations on women was almost universally derided as half-baked philosophical twaddle set to a weirdly diverse pop soundtrack. Simultaneously, he was also examining the inherent power of dreams with Dr. Jan Lloyd, whose death last year inspired Lee to again brave the concept-album waters with Deeper Into Dream (Dangerbird), a loosely threaded set about the mind movies our brains script, direct and discard every single night. Lee will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Lee: The Red Book, consisting of the dream journals of Jung, was finally published a couple of years ago, amidst some controversy. Jung fans tend to fall into two groups: the conventional dream analysts and the mystics. It becomes very clear after perusing the book which side of the fence Jung himself fell on. These are deep, mysterious stories of his exploration of his own unconscious. Interactions with vision and visitations, tales of blasphemy and liberation. It’s not something you need to read beginning to end, but a big book of heaven and hell to dip into when pushing the boundaries of your own reality is what you need.
Video after the jump.
