Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals To Release First Album In Nine Years In 2016

When it rains, it pours, hey?

Aussies have been living without Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals since 2007 — the last time they both released an album and visited the country — but not only will local shores be graced with the band's presence for the first time in a long while this year, but they'll have a brand new album to show for it to boot.

Releasing 8 April via Stax Records/Caroline Australia, the 11-track Call It What It Is is Harper's first release with The Innocent Criminals (not counting live album Live At Twist & Shout) since 2007's acclaimed full-length Lifeline, which went Gold here and peaked at #1 on the ARIA Albums chart (not to mention picking up a Grammy nomination along the way). Not that Harper's been sitting around dormant by any stretch — he's also since dropped a solo effort as well as albums with Relentless7, Charlie Musselwhite, and even his mother, Ellen.

The band have previewed partial vibes from the work by way of unleashing lead single Pink Balloon on our attentive ears, bringing it to life with a polished live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live over in the US, which you can handily check out below.

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals' tour of Australia gets under way as part of the Sydney Opera House's On The Steps series on Wednesday 2 March, with additional dates lined up in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Tickets are on sale now via Live Nation; see theGuide or check The Music App for a full rundown of dates, venues and other booking information.

Pre-orders for Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals' Call It What It Is are available via Caroline Australia.

Call It What It Is 
track list

1. When Sex Was Dirty

2. Deeper And Deeper

3. Call It What It Is

4. How Dark Is Gone

5. Shine

6. All That Has Grown

7. Pink Balloon

8. Finding Our Way

9.  Bones

10. Dance Like Fire

11. Goodbye To You