Ben Lee seems to be one of the hardest working artists in pop music. We live in a world where pop has to be neither complex, pleasing to the ear, or earnest. But despite the obvious and easy route, Ben Lee chooses the road less traveled with his most recent album, Ripe. This album is the much awaited follow up to Ben's smash album Awake is the New Sleep.

Ben is a paradox. His lyrics have always been powerful, evocative, and memorable yet still ridiculously simple, possibly even childish ("Birds and bees/And songs like these/Cos we want what we want/And its natural baby.") .  And Ripe continues along in that vein through upbeat riffs and melodies and sing-songy collaborations with the only pop princess who tries to fly under the radar, Mandy Moore, and all the members of Rooney.
    
But to be fair, it needs to be brought to attention that, along with Ben's happy style of earnestness, his adolescent sense of humor bleeds through quite easily on tracks such as "What Would Jay-Z Do?" and "Sex Without Love".

Ben's music is at its apex when he is portraying the hopeless optimism of a teenager who has yet to realize how much relationships suck in songs like "Is This How Love Is Supposed to Feel?" and through mocking pep in "Sex Without Love". But the drawback to such a vivid portrayal is that his liquid voice and catchy hooks seem to draw the listener back to those moments of personal history too effortlessly. Unless you're careful, you might be reminded of something you've spent a long time trying to forget.

But enough about my horrible high school experiences. Let's talk about Ben's sensibility of uber-Aussie-pop that we can't help but enjoy. It's amazing the extent to which Ben can be poppy and yet still retain his indie-desiring fan base. Ben achieved a certain level of fame in the American mainstream when his hit single "Catch My Disease" from the album Awake is the New Sleep was featured over the opening sequence of an episode of Grey's Anatomy.  The song achieved a great deal of play on college campuses through a hard-pushed distribution of the song on the MTVU channel. I personally remember walking down the halls of my apartment building watching three girls dancing around their apartment in their underwear to the song on what seemed to be a constant repeat.

Now Ripe does not have any Prozac laden tunes like "Disease", but that's not to say that the songs contained within don't have the same aesthetic value. There is something to be respected about Ben's tight-rope act. I for one, still haven't figured out how he has brought Indie to Pop and Pop to Indie without making a mess or too much of a racket. The task in itself seems impossible because of the constant attitudes of contrast between the two genres. And Ripe does more than pull its weight in Ben's repertoire.  It shows how Ben matures ever so slightly with each album, but not without holding onto the innocent and defenseless nature of his marred desires and past. But not too marred to enjoy.

Ripe is pleasing to listen to regardless of whether you choose to blare it from speakers or if you're self conscious, through a good pair of headphones. It's perfect for letting an hour or so drift away into obscurity because it is THAT easy to get wrapped into this album. It won't blow you away with complexity or breaking new ground; but the lyrics will remind you of good conversations and forgotten feelings. The instrumentation will relax you at times and excite you at times, but all within a decent spectrum of acceptability and just a modicum of reminiscence.