Get Your Music on Amazon!
Get Your Music - and everything else - on Amazon! All purchases made on Amazon through this link earn a commission for Jesusfreakhideout.com!

JFH Music Review


Lifehouse, Almerķa
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Lifehouse
Almerķa



Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 10 tracks: 39 minutes, 10 seconds
Street Date: December 11, 2012


It has often been posited that the music which is truest and sweetest comes from those whose souls are in turmoil. If such a hypothesis is to be believed, it may well explain why Jason Wade and his friends in Lifehouse seem to have connected with so many listeners on such a deep level over the course of their ten-plus years together as a band. Since hitting the airwaves at the dawn of the new millennium with their hugely popular No Name Face album, the alt-pop/rock outfit has made the better part of its bread and butter churning out brooding, angst-filled anthems like "Sick Cycle Carousel," "First Time" and "Halfway Gone," the latter of which found Wade, in characteristically melancholy temperament, declaring "Letting go ain't easy/ I'm hanging on but growing cold."

What an outright surprise, then, to scan the lyrics to the group's latest effort and find the alt-pop unit exhibiting what could arguably be labeled outright ebullience. Indeed, the opening strains of the twang-infused leadoff cut, "Gotta Be Tonight" are loaded to the brim with steady, light-hearted chants of "Keep your head up and move along/ Gotta keep your brights on and cruise along." Equally joyous are the ingratiatingly catchy Natasha Bedingfield duet, "Between the Raindrops," and the arena-ready power ballad, "Only You're the One" ("This is a night like none before/ The band begins/ And it's 1, 2, 3, 4"), which describes an in-concert experience in unmistakably celebratory tones. Even more somber-themed entries like "Pins & Needles" and "Barricade" temper their stark subject matter with equal measures of both determination and hope.

Of course, the greatest lyrics in the world are only so many words on a page without an equally impressive musical section to back them up. To that end, Wade & Co. succeed magnificently. The Eastern-tinged groove and simple, repeated guitar riff of "Slow Motion" is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's most engrossing folk music forays. The steel guitar and weeping melody line of "Barricade," by comparison, are of a piece, believe it or not, with Glen Campbell's genre-defining country-folk compositions from the late '60s. The lilting, bluesy "Right Back Home," which features plenty of nimble-fingered fret work from none other than '70s guitar icon Peter Frampton, is the absolutely perfect soundtrack for that long drive in the country with the top down. And the bracing noise-and-distortion that ushers in "Moveonday" is exactly the sort of thing fans of the four piece's harder-edged work were hankering to hear during the middle portion of the last decade, when the group was busily putting together adult contemporary-inclined nuggets like "You and Me" and "Whatever it Takes."

All too often, when artists branch out musically or lyrically, the albums that result are scattershot, incoherent affairs that leave the bulk of those who hear them more confused than impressed. Ironically enough, though, while the Almerķa record is easily the quartet's most eclectic and wide-ranging project to date, it also happens to be its most focused--thanks, in large part, to the aforementioned undercurrent of optimism and resolve that ties its disparate songs so neatly together. In the wildly successful inaugural Lifehouse single, Wade cried out in a plaintive voice that he was "desperate for changing" and "starving for truth." Twelve years and five albums later, it looks as if he might have finally found both.

- Review date: 12/14/12, written by Bert Gangl of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

 

JFH Staff's Second Opinion



Surprisingly, it's been nearly twelve years since the hook from "Hanging By a Moment" endeared Lifehouse to so many hearts. From there, the guys released a solid sophomore record, but issues started arising in the third album. It seemed the band shifted focus a bit and their overall sound changed and became softer with it. The group's sixth studio album, Almerķa, features another shift in sound and the "cowboy" cover art should be a clue. From the opening riff of "Gotta Be Tonight," you can tell Lifehouse is bringing a new sound, and it resonates throughout most of the album. To go along with that sound are also tracks like "Moveoneday" that bring back a little of the older alt-rock sound, and "Aftermath," which features the more recent sound and is one of the prettiest songs they've written to date. While the western flair strikes gold for the most part, the steel guitar in "Barricade," an old school country ballad, can grate on listeners who aren't accustomed to country music stylings. Other tracks of note would be the 80's pop sound (think Phil Collins/Genesis) of "Only You're the One" and the Peter Frampton featured "Right Back Home." This isn't a record you've heard from Lifehouse in the past and it's not one you should pass up. It may take a listen or two to adjust to the sound of Almerķa, but this is the first Lifehouse album worth getting excited about in a while. - Michael Weaver, 12/17/12

 

. Record Label: Geffen
. Album length: 10 tracks: 39 minutes, 10 seconds
. Street Date: December 11, 2012
. Buy It: Amazon.com (CD)
. Buy It: Amazon.com (Vinyl)
. Buy It: iTunes (Deluxe)
. Buy It: iTunes

  1. Gotta Be Tonight (3:11)
  2. Between The Raindrops (4:45)
  3. Nobody Listen (3:40)
  4. Moveonday (4:03)
  5. Slow Motion (5:23)
  6. Only You're The One (3:30)
  7. Where I Come From (3:53)
  8. Right Back Home (3:59)
  9. Barricade (3:04)
  10. Aftermath (3:48)
  11. Always Somewhere Close (3:00) [iTunes Bonus Track]

    Deluxe Edition
  12. Lady Day (3:39)
  13. Pins and Needles (3:04)
  14. Rolling Off The Stone (3:34)

 

Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 

 

                 
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

Search JFH



This Friday, July 25, 2025
ALBUMS
Anchor & Braille New Mexico [Equal Vision]
B. Tee Told You [Syntax]
Bride Scarecrow Messiah CD Re-Release [Girder]
Empowered SALT - EP (independent)
Homesick Prodigals Different Good (independent)
KDNS After Eden [Syntax]
Olivia Lane Songs About Jesus (Deluxe Edition) [BEC]
Tasha Cobbs Leonard TASHA [Motown Gospel]
Kevi Morse Kingston We Winning [Syntax]
Pulpit Vomit Hospital Lens [Rottweiler]
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno Dance for Jesus - EP (independent)
Taylor & Co Worship Breakthrough - EP (independent)
Josh Wright LEAD (independent)

SINGLES
abenezer i was lost - Single [Gotee]
Joe L Barnes Good Shepherd (Studio Version) - Single [Provident]
Sho Baraka Still Got Faith (ft. L3xdivine) - Single [Syntax]
Gracie Binion Easy To Please - Single [BEC]
Katty Camargo Shine Upon Me - Single (independent)
The CCC Collective Thankful - Single (independent)
C4 Crotona Mr. Gritty - Single [Syntax]
CXMMXNS Trust and Obey (feat. CAIN) - Single [Provident]
EJ Swavv & Nickwit2Ks Growth - Single [Syntax]
Forrest Frank GOD'S GOT MY BACK - Single [River House / 10K]
Andrew Gonoude Closer To You - Single (independent)
Noah Paul Harrison Oh Lord My God (Live) - Single [Bethel]
J.Solo All I Have (ft. Kaboose & MotionPlus) - Single [Syntax]
Kings Kaleidoscope + Kings Kaleidoscope Hymns Amazing Grace - Single [BEC]
Tasha Layton Life In Me - Single [BEC]
Lecrae Bless You (feat. Torey D'Shaun) - Single [Reach]
TobyMac God Did It (feat. Jamie MacDonald) - Single [Capitol CMG]
Matt Maher Wait (Radio Version) - Single [Provident]
Hunter Plake Down to Earth - Single [BEC]
QEW JOYXFIX (ft. Stevie Rizo) - Single [Syntax]
Naomi Raine God Will Work It Out - Single [Tribl]
Rave Jesus Runnin' - Single [Provident]
Saints in Exile Bad Vibes - Single [Syntax]
Xander Sallows infinite - Single [DREAM]
Silent Reflection Left Me for Dead - Single [Syntax]
Michael W. Smith Your Love Is A Flood - Single [The Fuel]
John Stratton The Body and the Blood - Single [Pure Mosaic Services]
Regina Vandereijk You're the Light - Single (independent)
Joel Vaughn Feel It - Single [DREAM]
Zach Williams Killed A Man - Single [Provident]
Zauntee Jesus Down In Florida - Single [BEC]

VINYL
Bride Scarecrow Messiah Vinyl [Girder]

DVD
Jordan Smith The People's Hymnal DVD [Gaither]

This Saturday, July 26, 2025
SINGLES
Anthony & Tiffany Salerno What Would You Do? - Single (independent)

Next Friday, August 1, 2025
ALBUMS
Crash Rickshaw Big Sir - EP [Velvet Blue]
McKamey Legacy Holding to Truth [Horizon]
Ordained Thunder Roar [Girder]
V1 Worship Archives [DREAM Worship]

SINGLES
Dan Bremnes Human - Single [Curb]
Lauren Daigle Let It Be A Hallelujah - Single [Centricity]
Sleeping At Last Believe - Single (independent)

VINYL
Disciple Attack! (Limited Run Vinyl) Vinyl [Girder]



For all release dates, click here!
 

Join honey and save on online purchases!
Get all of JFH's indie compilation now totally free!
Check out depositphotos for royalty free images