From its unassuming beginnings in the friendship between US actor Josh Radnor and Australian musician Ben Lee, folk-pop duo Radnor & Lee has graduated from fledgling project to a musical movement in the making.
Friends for over a decade, Josh and Ben formed Radnor & Lee as an experiment in songwriting only to discover a deeper potential lay within their unique chemistry.
As sudden as their appearance seems, both Ben and Josh concur that it’s been a slow-burn process. “There was a moment we said 'hey you want to write a song?' because Josh had mentioned wanting to write songs,” Ben explains.
"I feel like our songwriting is changing in really interesting ways, but what initially sparked this collaboration is still there."
“But I would say this was, and continues to be, a gradual realisation of possibility. For me, I love collaborating and I love getting surprised, so Josh had mentioned wanting to try writing songs and I was like 'hey, want to do that soon?' and it went from there.”
Josh adds: “I think that there is an idea that there is a 'Eureka' moment, that it's just 'now we're doing this', but I feel like there has been a lot of moments along the way, or just a deepening of the commitment to really do this, and also figuring out what this thing is because it keeps revealing itself to be something different than we thought.”
Josh is best known for his work in film and TV including his iconic role as Ted Mosby in hit show ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and his latest commission in the new musical TV drama ‘Rise’ as lead character Lou Mazzuchelli.
In pursuing his musical passion as Radnor & Lee while maintaining an active screen presence as an actor, writer and director Josh says his mercurial nature tends to leave him creatively restless. “I realised pretty early on acting wasn’t going to give me everything I was looking for creatively,” he says.
“I certainly still love it and when the right thing comes along I want to do it, but once I started writing and realised I had some ability for that, and certainly now learning that I can write songs and it gives me a lot of joy, I think I just try to follow what is giving me creative fulfilment.
"Joy is my compass and music was a no-brainer. Once I started doing it with Ben I realised I wanted to keep doing it, for sure.”
For Ben, already an established and experienced songwriter and performer, he was drawn to Josh’s sense of melody and the opportunity to act as a facilitator for Josh’s expansion into music. “In the beginning when we started he wasn’t playing an instrument, so I was more interested in his sense of melody and lyrics,” Ben says.
“I was really inspired by his organic relationship to melody; it really didn’t surprise me at all because I knew Josh was a good writer and good with words, but the relationship to melody and that it came from a space that was in his body. Melody and harmony has to feel good in your body and he just had a very organic relationship to that.
“I was keen to facilitate as much musical vision as he could tap into from day one, because I know my tricks and my tricks are old to me and I’m bored of them.
"But my tricks in service of his jumping-off point: suddenly we reached this interesting thing where I had accumulated all of these tools that with someone else as a foil or an instigator, we went into brand-new territory.”
Last year saw the debut, self-titled album release from Radnor & Lee, a collection of sincere songwriting that strikes a perfect balance between introspective folk and upbeat, acoustic pop.
Radnor & Lee are already working on their next album and Josh is quietly confident that fans will devour it just as ravenously as they did the first. “I feel like our songwriting is changing in really interesting ways, but what initially sparked this collaboration is still there and I think if people responded to the first record, I think and hope they will for the second.
“Certainly we're changing because we’re always changing and if you're making stuff, what you make is going to change because life doesn’t stop. I love that people responded to the first record; I imagine we'll be playing those songs for a long time, or at least a handful of them, and I’m really excited about the new stuff too.”
Josh and Ben begin work on their sophomore record soon after their forthcoming Australian tour that has them playing just three shows in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
It’s a special occasion for the pair being Ben’s return to a homeland audience with a new project, and Josh’s first-ever visit to Australia. “Oh man, I can’t wait; I’m just so happy,” Ben beams.
“Obviously I’m Australian but also my audience in Australia has been the most loyal audience. There are people who come to my shows that have been coming for 20 years and just to bring this new project – I feel so positive about it.
"It feels like, in a way, the sum of a lot of stuff I’ve been playing with over the years so I can’t wait to share it with Australia.”
Josh provides equal enthusiasm for the tour. “I’ve never been to Australia and I always love when something I’ve made – whether it’s a film or a TV show or even music – takes me to a place I’ve never been before, literally.
"There's something so exciting about that and I can't imagine a better introduction to Australia than going with Ben, and Radnor & Lee.”
Radnor & Lee Tour Dates
Thu 17 May - The Triffid (Brisbane)Sat 19 May - Athenaeum Theatre (Melbourne)
Sun 20 May - Metro Theatre (Sydney)
