Ben Harper
Wide Open Light
Chrysalis Records
2 June 2023

According to Ben Harper, Wide Open Light, his 17th studio album, a minimalist acoustic affair, serves as a meditation on love, loss and longing, each song connected in some way to the next and generally tracing a path through broken relationships. It’s bookended with two instrumentals, the opening bluesy fingerpicked Heart and Crown with its circling guitar pattern and, with an ethereal wash of keyboards behind the sparse guitar notes, the closing Thank You Pat Brayer, a shout out to the Ontario-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who contributed to several of Harper’s previous albums.
The first of the songs, recorded live with a resonator twang to its guitar runs and complete with applause, Giving Ghosts is a gospel blues-shaded musing on how “Every day I look more like my father/And every day I look a little less like me”, of mortality and letting go (“Now I’ve got to give up your ghost/We’ll raise a glass, one final toast/And drink to giving up your ghost”). It’s followed by Masterpiece, a fingerpicked, Cat Stevens-ish sounding celebration of unconditional love (“Love you for who you are/I love you for who you may never be/From downtown all the way up to 142nd Street/And all of my possessions/Mean less than the very least/Loving you is my masterpiece”), with piano and lap steel. However, when it gets to the more uptempo, vocally higher-pitched reflective 8 Minutes, which features harmonies from Shelby Lynne, it’s clear things have soured for the (presumably divorced) narrator (“It’s not just a town/It’s a final resting place/When I die from choices I refused to make”) whose kids fail to mark his 33rd birthday ( “My oldest didn’t call/Middle’s outta state/And the youngest lives here with me”), an overwhelming sense of loss captured in the line from whence the title comes: “It takes 8 minutes for the sun to hit your bones/I’m a long way from home/Only so many days we can own”.
The practical, painful cleaning up after a relationship’s collapse is captured on the lilting shuffling sway of Yard Sale, which features Jack Johnson on guitar and harmonies as the protagonist wistfully sings about how his ex “came to gather/All of her personal effects/It seemed a bit too late/For goodbye sex /Out the window an engine idled/Some guy leaning on the hood/I’m pretty sure she’s gone for good”, wryly observing that “Love is a yard sale/Strangers wander up on your grass/To hold your future hostage/And bargain for your past”.
Things take a turn with Trying Not To Fall In Love With You with its dramatic piano flourishes of heavy bass notes and staccato minor key chords, the song conjuring a cabaret feel as he tries to resist the temptation to succumb to another potential heartbreak (“I try to be patient, but it gets too hard to breathe/I try to run away, but you know that I won’t leave/And every day I try and tell myself that we are through /Trying not to fall in love with you”). You could almost hear the late Alex Harvey singing, “They put me on medication, but it wouldn’t take/I tried to sever relations, but the bond wouldn’t break/Tomorrow I’ll awaken; try to start my life anew”.
Again reminiscent of Cat Stevens with shades of Davey Graham to the guitar, it’s back to a troubadour folksy picked acoustic riff for the title track on which he’s joined by Piers Faccini on harmonies and oud guitar for a more upbeat number about having tough times (“I know what it’s like to be half dead/And the other half gone out of your head”) and having someone there to help you through (“If tomorrow starts today/We’d best be on our way/There’s no time to waste/Only you restore my faith/Mistakes I am destined to repeat ’til I get them right/Walk with me into the wide open light”).
Featuring Travis Taylor, Keesha Gumbs and Karyn Porter on backing vocals, a jaunty acoustic blues with a staccato riff, One More Change sees light on the horizon (“I’ve worried so long/I’m not worried now/This heavy load/Help me set it down/Some things take a lifetime/Some things can’t wait/I’ve got one more change to make/One more chain to break”) while, again shifting perspectives on endings and beginning, as the title suggests, the huskily sung Growing Growing Gone is a beautiful number about watching your child grow up and move away (“Doesn’t matter what I do or say/She’s gonna do things her way/Blink of an eye has nothing on/How all the days have flown… She’s quite a sight behind the wheel/Now I’m in the passenger seat”) that comes with a nice spin in the final verse (“Human nature isn’t nature at all/Just an excuse we use with our backs against the wall/Someday I’ll apologize/And maybe she’ll recognize /I’m growing, I’m growing, I’m gone”).
Returning to images of time passing as “Days run away like wild horses/Up and over the hill/Everything is always and forever’s never still” and finding refuge in love and the freedom of “running in place”, the last of the songs, the lightly skipping Love After Love with its chiming steel bell and Dylan hints, is also the only one to feature a backing band, with Jason Mozersky on guitar, bassist Jesse Ingalls, Jimmy Paxson on drums and Rebecca Schlappich on violin.
A thoughtful and reflective album, Wide Open Light has a quiet strength and emotional depth in its minimalism. Harper’s past albums have accrued eight Grammy nominations and three wins. This should add to both tallies.
Yard Sale (Live From The Kitchen)