Awake Is the New Sleep
| Awake Is the New Sleep | ||||
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| Studio album by Ben Lee | ||||
| Released | 22 February 2005 | |||
| Recorded | Seagrass Studio Valley Village, Los Angeles, California |
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| Genre | Indie pop | |||
| Length | 56:54 | |||
| Label |
New West Records (USA) Inertia Distribution (Australia) |
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| Producer | Brad Wood | |||
| Ben Lee chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 57/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Pitchfork Media | (2.9/10) |
| Rolling Stone | |
Awake Is the New Sleep is the fifth album by Australian musician Ben Lee, released in 2005. It reached #5 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart, becoming his most successful album. It contains the top 40 singles "Gamble Everything for Love" and "Catch My Disease". "Gamble Everything for Love" was also voted number 15 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004 while "Catch My Disease" was #2 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2005. The song "We're All in This Together" was used on several television advertisements in Australia and New Zealand, including Coca-Cola and The Salvation Army Community Services. In October 2010, Awake Is the New Sleep was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.
Before writing Awake Is The New Sleep, Lee traveled to India. It was here that he met Sakthi Narayani Amma, who inspired him spiritually and told him he would succeed if he put the message of joy into his music. This was a turning point for Lee. Having experienced criticism for his light heartedness in the past, Lee felt a renewed need to incorporate joy and happiness into his music. Lee also changed his reason for making music, from creating music to get something out of it to creating music as a way to give to others. All of this greatly influenced the music on Awake Is The New Sleep.
(all songs written by Lee except where noted)
The singles released from Awake Is the New Sleep exemplify the message of the album: love and togetherness. Listed here are the titles of the singles and a brief description of their content.
"Gamble Everything for Love" is about the importance of putting love above all else. Its message is that love should be put first in all instances; that love, if you make a point to embrace it, will fulfill all of your needs.
"Catch My Disease" is a song about embracing Lee's thinking. He sings, "Open your heart, and catch my disease". Due to past criticism of his light-hearted music, this may be interpreted as Lee suggesting that others open themselves up to his music and its message.
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Wikipedia