Who We Are - the review

The fourth album from my favourite band, Lifehouse , is a worthy addition to the collection so far and one that definitely grows on you.
Initially slightly disappointed the album, Who We Are, compares well with the previous, self-titled, album which interestingly ended with the words who we are (from the song The End Has Only Begun).
I have extolled the virtues of Jason Wade as a songwriter many times and he has again floored me with some of his lyrics. But I will get to that shortly.
The CD opens with Dissaray and the first single, First Time , and they are solid soft rock tracks but we come into the third song Whatever It Takes and things changed for me. Essentially a love song about two people trying desperately to salvage what they have in the face of a break-up. This one kind of feels like a follow up to Hanging By A Moment depicting the end rather than the beginning.
The title track is fine and fairly self-explanatory and track six The Joke has quite an interesting sound. Then we get into the A grade.
If you ever liked Lifehouse, particularly tracks like Everything, it comes as no surprise that Wade produces a corker in the track Easier To Be . While Lifehouse don't lay claim to being a Christian band Wade's background has been well exposed and he often writes Christian songs disguised as secular (of sorts) songs and the aforementioned Everything is a prime example.
Easier To Be is the Everything of this album and is simple, beautiful and moving.
`We speak in silence, words can't break, it feels like we are, falling awake, in a place and a time, of our own, yeah yeah, you make it easier to be, easier to be me. It felt like the world fell from my feet, gave up on myself, you didn't give up on me...'
It's almost a shame Easier To Be isn't the last track as it would be a perfect ending. We get a few standard rock tracks before heading back into deeper waters with Storm .
`If I could just see you, everything would be all right, if I'd see you, this darkness would turn to light. And I will walk on water, and you will catch me if I fall, and I will get lost into your eyes, I know everything will be all right..'
We get two bonus tracks in Australia, Keep The Change and I Want You To Know, of which the latter is definitely the better.
A band like Lifehouse could have easily fizzled out after a debut number one single and successful first album but they have continued and there's certainly plenty of life left in this group. At least I hope so. Jason Wade and Lifehouse produce music with soul and heart and that is something sorely missed out there.