Lifehouse - Smoke & Mirrors (Deluxe edition) (2010)

Smoke & Mirrors is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Lifehouse. It was released on March 2, 2010, by Geffen Records. Lifehouse began to work on the album with record producer Jude Cole in the fall of 2008 at Cole's Ironworks Studio. The band collaborated with American singer-songwriter Kevin Rudolf and Chris Daughtry of the band Daughtry while working on the album.

The album received mixed reviews from critics, and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, selling 54,000 copies in its first week. It became the fourth highest debut album on the chart for the week of March 20, 2010. It also debuted at number 15 on the Canadian Albums Chart, which became its peak on the chart.

The album's lead single, "Halfway Gone", was released October 26, 2009, charting on several Billboard charts including Billboard's Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, Digital Songs, Hot Dance Club Songs, Pop Songs, and Radio Songs charts.

Smoke and mirrors refers to some degree of trickery, but illusion is an instinct alien to Lifehouse, the most literal minded of all new-millennium post-grungers. Lifehouse always underscores their emotions, even when it’s not necessary -- and given that they rarely depart from convention, it’s usually not necessary. Smoke & Mirrors, the group’s fifth album, offers no drastic change in direction for the band. By and large, it’s tougher than its predecessor, Who We Are, but the bulk of it is still co-written and produced by that album’s producer, Jude Cole, who manages to coax out more melody from lead singer/songwriter Jason Wade, but not enough for this to be forcefully hooky. At its best, Smoke & Mirrors is ingratiating, its songs working its way into memory due to repeated exposure in malls and bumper music, but never forming anything amounting to an identity. As product, it’s satisfactory -- it fits the contours of modern rock radio of both the active and adult alternative varieties -- but as the songs die out it, the CD fades out like so much smoke.