1.5/5 stars
2015 not only marks ten years since the ARIA-smashing, world-dominating Awake Is The New Sleep – it’s also ten years since the last great Ben Lee record. Sure, there have been small moments of hope across the four albums he’s released since, but they’re cluttered and surrounded by sensitive new-age mantras and cloying saccharine pop balladry.
Exactly why there was any hope that Love Is The Great Rebellion would fare any differently is a mystery. Perhaps it had something to do with Lee affirming a return to writing pop songs in press surrounding the record’s release. Alas, Lee’s idea of a pop song now means simplistic cheese that draws closer stylistic parallels to Play School than to Breathing Tornados: ‘The Body Of Love’ is torturously repetitive; ‘Everybody Dies’ a faux-philosophical bore. How bad does Love get? Put it this way: it will make you want to agree with Kris Roe and Bernard Fanning.
Unless you’re planning a kale-heavy vegan picnic with your kids Wyntyr and Destinii after yoga class, there’s a good chance you won’t have any need for Love Is The Great Rebellion. Cigarettes will indeed kill you, but this record might get the job done faster.
Love Is The Great Rebellion by Ben Lee is out now through Warner.
