Ben Lee

Despite surviving the music industry meat grinder for almost 20 years, Aussie troubadour Ben Lee is regressing rather than maturing. His last album, 2009's the Rebirth of Venus, was an ill-conceived concept album about femininity. And now Deeper into Dream burns up whatever goodwill adult contemporary staple "Catch My Disease" bought him. Inspired by the backbone of any "good" teenage poetry ― dreams ― Lee pulls three years of dream analysis therapy into a collection of maudlin observations on the subject, abandoning his knack for pop songwriting in favour of on-the-nose lyrical concepts. Many of the songs are built upon droning instrumental tracks, ensuring any hooks that may have been in the vocals are lost in a sea of monotony. Flashes of Lee's old brilliance surface, but are too seldom and brief. Hopefully he rediscovers his pop muse very soon.