Ben Harper - Winter Is For Lovers album review

(Image credit: Supplied)

BEN HARPER
Winter Is For Lovers
ANTI-

Ben Harper’s love for the humble lap-steel comes to a bold (and incalculably beautiful) peak with this 15-track instrumental trawl down trails of smoky soul, melancholic Americana and slick, summery folk.

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Ellie Robinson is an Australian writer, editor and dog enthusiast with a keen ear for pop-rock and a keen tongue for actual Pop Rocks. Her bylines include music rag staples like NME, BLUNT, Mixdown and, of course, Australian Guitar (where she also serves as Editor-at-Large), but also less expected fare like TV Soap and Snowboarding Australia. Her go-to guitar is a Fender Player Tele, which, controversially, she only picked up after she'd joined the team at Australian Guitar. Before then, Ellie was a keyboardist – thankfully, the AG crew helped her see the light…

Latest

“It can be whatever pedal you need it to be”: TC Electronic’s Plethora X1 takes the fight to the Line 6 HX One – and it costs over $100 less

See more latest ►

“I had a hard time playing in tune. The producer stopped me and said, ‘George, tune up again.’ I didn’t realize the value of that until Breezin’ came out”: How George Benson landed a hit album by breaking the rules – and learning to play in tune

“Even though a Marshall sounded fantastic, I refused to play one. That’s my bad… I had a terrible sound for years”: Punk-grunge icon Donita Sparks on ironic gear choices, L7’s infamous Reading Festival set and why recording with Butch Vig was “maddening”

“I bought my ’54 Strat from the biggest dealer in Sweden – he was crying when I walked away with the guitar”: Brian May, Steve Vai and Neal Schon have all given Yngwie Malmsteen guitars – but nothing compares to his Fender Strats

“If there was ever a time to get off the rollercoaster, it was going to be at the top”: Being in a band is tough – just ask bassist Dirk Lance, who left Incubus at the peak of their powers

“Trying to emulate these different players was a challenge. Chris Poland to Marty Friedman is like night and day. But that’s what excites me”: Glen Drover grew up idolizing Megadeth and King Diamond’s guitar heroes – then he had to step into their shoes

“Many players think that the pickups are the main contributor to the way a guitar sounds… But if you change what the string does, that changes the guitar”: How Andy Powers rethought electric guitar design for the Powers Electric A-Type

“We made a handwritten tab book. I wanted to make some sort of DIY zine, and I had all these guitar solos from the EP that people were asking about”: Musical polymath Luna Li on blending harps with Fender Jaguars – and the art of arrangement

“I remember watching Jimi when I was younger, while he was in the room with me. I’d have my social studies book, but I was listening and watching him”: Ernie Isley lived with Jimi Hendrix – then took his place to write hit after hit in his brothers’ band

“We wanted to carry the torch of the guitar duo – Friedman/Becker, Gilbert/Bouillet – and pay homage to the golden era of shred guitar”: YouTube virtuosos Pete & Vinnie Play started with Racer X covers – now they’ve released their own classic shred single

“I always liked bluegrass a lot because the tempo is a lot closer to a NOFX beat”: Meet the Bad Ups, the Philadelphia punks inspired by country-and-western, reggae and Chet Atkins

“David Ellefson told me, ‘You got the gig. Oh and by the way, Dave told me to tell you that you played many of the wrong guitar parts’”: Marty Friedman tells the inside story of his auditions with Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna – and landing the Megadeth gig

Get The Pick Newsletter

Most Popular