BEN LEE
Ayahuasca: Welcome To the Work is the latest from Sydney-born singer-songwriter, Ben Lee. Ayahuasca, a South American medicinal plant also known as the “vine of souls” was the inspiration behind the new record.
“It’s a medicine that I’ve been working with over the last five or six years and it just had a very profound effect on me, and I wanted… [to] write love songs for it,” says Lee.
“You know when you have a very powerful experience and you want to give something back. My music was done with almost a devotional headspace, in an attempt to express the experiences that I’d had.”
On this new record, you’ll hear harrowing vocals, wistful, lulling chords buried in complex, ambient soundscapes – perfect for communal lie-downs, which is what Lee has in mind for his string of live shows.
“They’re not really shows, they’re going to be meditations.
“There’ll be no stage; the musicians and the audience will be on the same level and we’re going to have an experience with the music… See if we can to go a new place together.” (SY)
Apr 11, Paddington United Church, 395 Oxford St, Paddington, $35, myheartspace.com.au