It is a sunny Sunday morning as I sit by the telephone, toast in hand, and patiently wait for Ben Lee’s phone call. Once the call comes through from Los Angeles, Lee’s adopted home, I am greeted cordially by a voice that sounds even more peaceful than the light breeze blowing through the window of my study.

“It’s all right,” Lee says as we exchange pleasantries about the current state of Californian weather. “I’m just having some hot tea, but the weather’s a little overcast. It’s on the cooler side, but it’s nice.”

The list of creative projects that Ben Lee has thrown himself into since the ARIA-nominated success of Awake Is The New Sleep is astonishing. He has recorded a digital album covering the entirety of Against Me!’s New Wave, contributed a cover for The Easybeats tribute album, wrote the score for The Edgerton Brother’s film The Square, and he also released Ripe, an album that did not achieve the plaudits of Awake… but nonetheless featured appearances by Mandy Moore and Benji Madden.

“It’s been a creative year for me. Ripe was not the most commercially successful album, but I value the time when I don’t have to tour an album for two years straight, because that is a time that I can be home and write a lot. That’s what I want from a career: I want those variables,” Lee says, explaining the reason for his prolific creative output in the last eighteen months.

The extensive artistic offerings of Lee look set to continue in the months ahead. Not only has his new album, The Rebirth Of Venus, been completed and scheduled for release on February 14 next year, but the singer is also embarking on a groundbreaking orchestral tour of Australia. It is an historic and thrilling tour for Lee, as his background playing with an orchestra racks up at only one show.

“I played with an orchestra once before in Perth and it is something special; you’re playing for families and a broader section of people than if you just played a rock concert,” he says. “I’ve always tried to make populist music, so to be able to play to a wide range of ages is a really exciting aspect for me.”

The outpouring of music from Lee reflects an inner feeling within him – that his career as an artist has reached another level. It’s another rung climbed in an artistic ladder successfully traversed since his debut EP Poop Queen was released in 1994, when Lee was only sixteen.

“I don’t know when it happened, but it seems that my career has reached a new plateau where people have started offering me the chance to do exciting things that I’ve never done before,” he says reflectively.

“It’s an honour to be able to creatively experiment, because sometimes I think about how many people want to play music, and how few get to make a living out of it, let alone try these different forms.”

Playing with an orchestra is no easy task, but to go by the memorable performance The Whitlams gave with The Queensland Symphony Orchestra at QPAC last year, Lee’s songs will take on a whole new life.

“It is daunting, but to be honest, the biggest thrills in my career have been when I’ve gone out on a limb and tried something. Sometimes I’ve fallen flat on my face but there’s something great about testing yourself and seeing what your capacity is,” Lee says with an eye firmly fixed upon the upcoming tour.

“Anyone who says that the first time you stand in front of a sixty-piece orchestra and play these little songs that you wrote on an acoustic guitar on your couch and not feel a little intimidated is lying. But there’s a thrill to that. The reality is that as a touring artist, you play a similar show night after night, so to be able to break out of that mould is incredible.”

Lee’s voice takes on a tone of awe as he speaks of the atmosphere that only playing with such a large orchestra can bring. As we begin to talk about certain songs that he feels will take on a new life with orchestral treatment, Lee suddenly laughs when his hit single Catch My Disease is brought up.

“There’s nothing like seeing a sixty piece orchestra stomping their feet and clapping their hands as part of their score,” he says. “It’s amazing.”

What is also amazing is the germ of an idea that grew to become Lee’s forthcoming album, The Rebirth Of Venus. It’s an album that focuses predominantly on femininity, which is a brave creative step for any man. But scratch beneath the surface and the concept rings true to the state of the world today.

“Looking at the state of the world in the way that we’ve treated the environment, foreign policy, indigenous culture, the homeless and people in need – we’ve done it in a manner that has masculine archetypal characteristics like aggression and greed. There hasn’t been a lot of compassion and nurturing in the way that we’ve dealt with a lot of these issues,” explains Lee.

“On a personal level, with creativity, I know that the more in tune I am with the natural flow of things and intuition and spontaneity, which are more feminine characteristics, the more the music flows. Even metal bands will tell you that. Creativity requires a light touch. I wanted to create an album that looks at the world in a lighter way.”

Over a thirteen-year career the diminutive musician has epitomised a true artist: constantly questioning himself and the world around him, not letting fear get in the way of expanding his creativity and remaining honest and humble despite the success that has come his way. This being said, there is no denying that once Ben Lee strides out to stand in front of that sixty piece orchestra, his music will become something much larger than life.

BEN LEE brings his extensive musical catalogue to QPAC, when he plays with The Queensland Symphony Orchestra on Sunday Nov 23. www.myspace.com/benlee

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