Indie-rock wunderkind Ben Lee will release his fourth solo album, Hey You, Yes You, August 12th on F2 Records. Currently on the road with Fountains of Wayne, the Australian singer-songwriter will follow Hey You with a collection of his songs covered by Kylie Minogue, Neil Finn and other singers.

Produced by Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (Gorillaz, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Hey You is more groove-driven than Lee's last effort, 1999's Breathing Tornadoes. "It's definitely got Dan's signature big, slow, dirty beats on it, which is what he brings to the table as an artist," says Lee. "Breathing Tornadoes was a pretty slick record, and this is a lot rougher sounding."

The album is the first written and recorded by the twenty-four-year-old Lee since relocating to the United States in 1998. (He lives in New York with his girlfriend, actress Claire Danes.) He calls the effort "a little darker and more aggressive" than his previous indie-pop efforts, and perhaps more American as well. "I think Americans will understand it in a way they haven't understood my other records."

Originally recorded for the now-defunct Grand Royal label, Hey You has been in the can since 2001, giving the prolific Lee two years of idle time to exert his energy elsewhere. Among his efforts: songs for and with former Lemonhead Evan Dando for Dando's recent solo debut, Baby I'm Bored; a venture into acting (the film The Rage in Placid Lake makes its world premiere in July at the Melbourne International Film Festival); and an Australian tour with Ben Kweller and Ben Folds dubbed "The Bens" (an EP featuring the trio is due in August).

The time has also allowed Lee to get his head around his next project, which he's referring to as Mixed Tape -- a dozen of his new songs sung by others. "Other people's voices tend to express things in my songs that I didn't know were there," Lee says.

Among those joining pop tart Minogue and former Crowded House hitmaker Finn are Tim Wheeler (frontman for Northern Irish pop-punk outfit Ash) and Frente singer Angie Hart. "There's a lot of people we're still trying to get," Lee says. "There have been people who have flat-out turned it down -- you don't always get the person you want but it's always ended up quite fortuitous who ends up singing on it. When I finally get it I'm like, 'Oh, it couldn't have been anyone else.'"

Minogue and Lee previously teamed to cover Duran Duran's "The Reflex" in 1999. Of his fellow Aussie, Lee says, "I like weird pop people."

NEAL WEISS
(June 27, 2003)