Smoke & Mirrors

iTunes Review

After a decade in the limelight, Lifehouse remains defiantly untrendy on Smoke & Mirrors. Singer Jason Wade’s nervous charisma is once again applied to songs that capture anxious emotional states and fleeting glimpses of transcendence. Many of Smoke & Mirrors’ songs sketch dead-end moods and dysfunctional relationships, with the hope of release hovering just beyond the horizon. If tracks like “Halfway Gone,” “Had Enough” and “It Is What it Is” are colored with melancholy, their choruses provide enough bursts of energy to dispel the gloom. The album’s high points include “Nerve Damage” (a slinky number with a dreamy guitar interlude) and “By Your Side” (a piano-based number with an empathetic message). Lifehouse’s post-grunge roots are exposed here and there, especially in the edgy “All In” and the angry “Here Tomorrow Gone Today.” For the most part, though, the band prefers to insinuate and emote rather than flex their rock muscles. Lifehouse stays true to its trademark sound, keeping its words ambiguous and its music hook-laden and consistently accessible.