Rebirth Of Venus has everything you've come to expect from a Ben Lee album.  The lyrics are clever.  The vocals are layered and melodic.  And I'll be damned if it's not rife with hooks!

"Surrender" has a call and response vocal not dissimilar to Lee's breakout hit "Catch My Disease".  "Blue Denim" has handclaps and a rootsy guitar that will have you tapping your toes.

The album also contains what is possibly Lee's best love song ever.  The witty "Bad Poetry" is a twisted ballad that would make Matthew Sweet envious. 

Lee does include a couple of songs that are overtly political on this album.  "Wake Up To America" features spoken word verses featuring Lee's views, while "I Love Pop Music" has the same but with a more subtle delivery.  One is certainly more effective than the other. 

There are a few misses on the album.  "Rise Up" is a song that really goes nowhere, slowly.  While a solid pop song, "Yoko Ono" sounds a little too close to the Barenaked Ladies in both theme and structure.  Album closers "Families Cheating At Board Games" and "Song For the Divine Mother Of The Universe" are plodding and redeemed only by their irresistible singalong endings.

In the end Rebirth Of Venus is what you want from a Ben Lee record: something you can sing along with as your stuck in traffic.