Each year, a slew of new artists storm the Bilboard charts, but many seem to serve as placeholders for the same archetypes: the edgy mall-punk diva, the helium-voiced pop-punk band, the bad boy R&B pinup, and the vaguely grungy Christian rock band.
In this last position, the band names may change, but the formula stays the same: grunge-influenced, stadium-ready anthems that address general crises of faith and love in terms ambiguous enough to serve a Christian youth rally or the junior prom. In the Good Book of Christian Rock, Creed begat Lifehouse, which then begat The Calling and Switchfoot. And it was good.
On their 2000 debut, No Name Face, Lifehouse proved especially adept at walking the line between secular and holy. Their hit \Hanging by a Moment"" was a spiritual anthem that topped Billboard's year-end singles chart in 2001 and propelled their debut album to double platinum sales. Pearl Jam producer Brendan O'Brien lent their debut a muscular sheen that gave lead singer Jason Wade's Eddie Vedder-esque croon and soul-searching songs just the right amount of heft, without lapsing into Creed-style over-dramatics.
Wade, in turn, wrote spiritual songs that managed to explore faith while avoiding the martyr poses favored by many of his Christian rock peers. The result was an introspective, infectious, and often touching coming-of-age album. Lifehouse's 2002 follow-up, the unfortunately titled Stanley Climbfall, repeated this formula with somewhat diminishing returns.
On their third, tellingly self-titled album, Lifehouse seem to have settled into a groove. They've abandoned the layered, aggressive sound of their debut in favor of toned-down, adult contemporary rock. Producer John Alagia (Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer) gives the album a slick, softened sound. Wade ends up sounding more like Mayer than Vedder. The result is a generally satisfying album that will please their fans and garner commercial airplay, but is otherwise unremarkable.
The genesis of Lifehouse's new approach is album-opener ""Come Back Down."" The song is Lifehouse's attempt at a ""Hanging by a Moment"" redux, but the song's considerably slower pace, world-weary lyrics-""I think it's time to just move on,"" Wade sings-and gentle acoustic verses are a far cry from the romantic abandon of their 2001 hit. It sounds like Jason Wade has had his romantic naivete drained from him, and with it, a considerable portion of Lifehouse's appeal.
The problem with this more mature, wizened approach is that Lifehouse's strength has always been the anthem, delivered with passionate lyrics and amps cranked to 11. On Lifehouse, the band recaptures that spark in the album's first several tracks. The album's latter half melts into a string of similar sounding, quieter mid-tempo tracks, however.
Wade has always been a better rock front man than balladeer, and without the muscle of his band to back him up, his songs sound rather bland. The album is easy to listen to, but not especially memorable. Lifehouse is by no means a bad record. The album's first half is exceptional and it will definitely please longtime fans. However, it is unlikely to make any new converts.
