A decade after signing a recording contract at the age of 14, the Bondi boy has had minor international success with four solo albums. When his first starring role in a feature film - the low-budget The Rage - screens this year, his girlfriend, Claire Danes, is likely to be at the launch party along with mates such as Sean Lennon and actor Toni Collette. He can also count on a long list of enemies taking the opportunity to bitch at his expense.

The Australian rock community has yet to forgive Lee for claiming to have made the best album from Down Under. And the songwriters of his adopted home might follow Californian punk band the Ataris, who penned a tribute to Lee which included the line, 'you're just some ugly p**** who got lucky cause he knew the Beastie Boys'.

But friends and enemies will have checked out his new album to see whether the 24-year-old has fulfilled his potential to be the folky troubadour of his age. The foes will be most pleased.

Hey You, Yes You is the work of a boy willing to be silly to get the attention of his parents. People like him run with scissors in our hands, he brags in the opening track. Lee spends much of the album struggling to realise that he's not the centre of the universe: 'The autumn leaves falling in the breeze are not my fault'. The musicianship is often just as clumsy. Lee is full of ideas on how to expand the pop song, but lacks the skill to gel them

Still, it's fun watching Ben Lee grow up.