Ben Harper Bringing "Unapologetic Rock" on New Album : Rolling Stone

Ben Harper

White Lies for Dark Times 5/5

With White Lies for Dark Times, Ben Harper cranks up the amps for 11 songs of rock and blues, and steps out with a new band.

In addition to being his heaviest offering, the album is also his first with the Relentless7 — guitarist Jason Mozersky, drummer Jordan Richardson and bassist Jesse Ingalls — the trio of Austin-based musicians previously worked on Harper's 2006 album Both Sides of the Gun. Harper told our Smoking Section blog that he first heard Mozersky when a particularly insistent van driver blared a demo while carrying Harper to an Austin gig.

"The guy put in the demo and I was plastered to the back of the van," says Harper. "It was so good."

Harper eventually recruited Mozersky to play on Both Sides of the Gun, and Mozersky in turn brought in Richardson and Ingalls. On their new album, they've crafted what Harper calls "absolute, unapologetic rock music." Starting with Harper's slide guitar on "Number With No Name," the album stays loud with Edge-style riffs on "Up to You Now," while "Lay There and Hate Me" mixes Stones-y riffs with Beatles-style songcraft.

"It's a sound I've been looking for and reaching for in my mind," says Harper. "We've taken turns kicking each others' asses in the most gracious fashion, pushing this into new places."

But while there's more fuzz in the riffs and thunder in the beats, the lyrics are still quintessential Harper, singing, "It takes a hundred miles of love to heal a mile of pain" on "Shimmer and Shine."

"I'm leaning on Relentless7's musical tastes, just as they are on mine," says Harper of his new crew. "I'm completely stoked."