Harper’s new album, Wide Open Light, dropping June 2, offers a glimpse of his own evolution: It’s a stripped-down, minimally-produced meditation on love, loss, and longing featuring 11 previously unreleased songs—including a duet with his longtime friend Jack Johnson—written throughout his life. "I've been setting certain songs aside for the day I would hopefully release this album,"says the three-time Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. "It captures me exploring my way to being 53 years old.” Harper is known for drawing from an eclectic mix of genres and combining and transforming them into something completely his own. This album exemplifies that:
“At its finest, it’s a reinvention of a style and sound,” explains Harper. “It’s something different than what is obviously categorizable because it's Black folk soul music.”
This past March, Harper made his acting debut in Extrapolations, an Apple TV+ series by filmmaker and playwright Scott Z. Burns about the environmental crisis. “If Scott calls me about a project, I’m probably going to do it,” says the musician. “But the fact that it was also contributing to global environmental awareness, that was the sweet spot.” Harper has long used his platform for advocacy, supporting organizations such as International Medical Corps, which provides humanitarian aid, and New Light, a safe haven for at-risk children in Kolkata, India. Currently, he’s invested in raising awareness about the work of Chad Pregracke, who founded the environmental non-profit Living Lands & Waters in 1998 that’s focused on global river cleanup. “I don’t confuse myself with frontline activists,” says Harper, “but maybe I’ll grow into that, because you can’t rock and roll forever.”
For this issue, Harper curated a playlist around the theme of beauty, choosing songs that he says have emotional depth. "I've always felt that there's beauty through rawness and emotional connection," he explains. Along with “Longest Apocalypse” by his daughter Harris, who he says is “Joni Mitchell good,” Harper included “Everything Is Everything” by Lauryn Hill, off of what he considers “one of the greatest records in music” and “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. “I was driving home from San Francisco to Los Angeles on this dark highway, and it suddenly came on the radio out of the static,” says Harper of the last track. “It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever heard.”
Listen to Ben Harper's playlist exclusively on Apple Music.
Ariana Marsh is Harper Bazaar’s senior features editor. Working across print and digital, she covers the arts, culture, fashion, literature, and entertainment—and a bit of everything in between.
