Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals vs. Frankenstein

They say God created the world in just six days and then rested on the seventh, but they also say there's no rest for the wicked... or the criminal. So when it came time for Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals to make their latest album, they were still putting last minute touches on their songs on the seventh day of recording. Somehow they still ended up with a pretty pristine record that's got so much Soul, it would make God proud.

Trying out a new approach, Harper, who is actually criminally nice in real life, decided to record right off-tour, when he and his band members were at their most "in-tune and sharpest". For two months during soundcheck the band would jam on the new material, until they were able to fit in some studio time in France. This also marked the first instance the band as a whole participated in the writing process. "They stepped right up to it," Harper says, "this record is gonna put the band on the world stage, straight up. "

Harper had wanted to record in Paris for a long time and as he closes his eyes for a minute, it's obvious that he's transporting himself back to City of Lights: "Paris is charged in an indefinable way. I don't romanticise any city — cos they are sometimes defined by your wallet, but people have come there for years, due to its creative draw, and if you tap into it, it gives you something that's... uniquely yours."

And what it gave the band was a modest studio with a 24-track recorder that turned out to be a 16-track, with only 15 actually functioning. And so along with that uniquely Parisian inspiration came a lot of perspiration and frustration in working with a temperamental, patched and bandaged beast of a machine, which became affectionately known as "Frank" (short for Frankenstein).

Though Frank was often un-cooperative, Harper remained optimistic, choosing to see it as a challenge. "It tested our abilities — we had to lean on our own skills and learn to get it right the first time... I do look forward to doing it again. I've used ProTools before, but from here on in I'm 16 track analog!"

Patience paid off, as the band came out of the studio with what Harper describes as a "modern-sounding Soul record," that he believes can stand the test of time.

"This record's been a defining moment. It's the first time I arrived at a style I'd like to dig deeper in, and it's renewed my appreciation for a specific sound that I will pursue for the next 5 years."

One of the standout tracks on the disc, alongside album namesake "Lifeline" (which was recorded in one take, Harper adds), is the empowering opening song called "Fight Outta You."

"I'd swear life's moving faster and there's more people full of shit than ever before," he says explaining the lyrics, "it's about taking a step back and not letting anyone extinguish your fire and guarding your flame — there's always someone trying to blow out your candle like it's their birthday."

Having been on the arena circuit for what seems like forever did almost take the fight out of the family man, but he's not complaining - "there's no success that's not in the balance of some level of compromise." In hopes of avoiding stadiums during the Lifeline tour, Harper will try to do multiple shows in smaller theatres: "it's best to present it with a specific intimacy, but the venue is only intimate until people start scrambling for tickets."