jeffvrabel.com I humorist and music writer

NEW YORK – Technically speaking, Ben Harper’s new record, “Lifeline,” was recorded during a single lively week in the artist’s home base of Paris. But it was born during two months’ worth of sound checks on a European tour by Harper and his band the Innocent Criminals.

“It all hit me in a split second,” Harper says. He explains that he was “basically tired of mundane sound checks. We were at the end of an eight-month run, about to start a two-month tour, and I thought, ‘We own our own sound system, amps, speakers — everything you want when you’re bringing music to life. But when you get to sound check, you’re playing the same material. This can’t stand.”’ So Harper and his band hatched a plan.

Ben Harper – Into the Colors.mp3