Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee. Image courtesy Festival of Voices.
Singer-songwriter Ben Lee will travel from his Los Angeles base to perform at the forthcoming Festival of Voices (FOV) in a one night only performance.
‘I generally try to say to yes to invitations. I wasn’t able to come last year – it seems to be giving people a different perspective on their voice and singing. It all sounded like good things,’ he said.
Entering its 10th year, FOV is Hobart’s annual celebration of ‘voice’ and reflects an emphasis on developing community through music. Joining Lee in a program spanning some 80 events are headlining artists Claire Bowditch and US vocal ensemble The Exchange.
‘I’m not a heavy rock artist, so my music is not innately flattered by the festival atmosphere, because people don’t normally go to festivals to listen to lyrics and to connect. [But] the right festival where the audience is in alignment with the artist can be a really rare and beautiful thing,’ he said.
Among crowd favourites such as ‘Catch my Disease’, Lee will play tracks from his latest album, Ayahuasca.
‘What sets me apart from other artists is that I don’t plot it out. Whether I’m sitting around with a group of friends, or playing in front of a 1000 people – it’s the same principle. Whether I’m singing or talking I’m just trying to say something from my heart.’
Lee said that prior to the Saturday 5 July concert at Federation Hall he would be hosting a workshop with festival guests. ‘This is something that the organisers came up with, and I think the reason that they did it is because of a similar reason that I did The Voice, which is to bring an underground perspective – which is sort of my formative experience – to a more traditional singing arena.
‘I think that it can be kind of refreshing. My whole perspective of coming up in indie and punk rock music – it was never about technical singing. It was always about attitude or authenticity, and more psychological factors about what makes a good vocal performance,’ he explained.
Lee said that the opportunity to spend time with emerging musicians in a workshop capacity is also an opportunity to reinforce the psychological relationship between a singer and a song, and how that can really affect an audience. ‘That’s the stuff that I feel more qualified to talk about, than vibrato or the technical things.’
Ben Lee will perform at Federation Hall in an all ages concert on Saturday 5 July at 8pm.
The Festival of Voices runs from 4-13 July in venues across Hobart.
For tickets and further information visit the Festival of Voices website.
