[aleuzzi]

Lindsey's MIRAGE songs may be lighter, more subdued and less adventurous than either his TUSK or TITN material, but the songs are generally warmer, more tuneful and more band-friendly than his work on the other two albums. In the abstract, I often consider his TITN contributions to be quite strong, but when I pit them against the MIRAGE material, the latter songs seem more convincing and true. To an extent, the TITN songs seem calculated, as if her were consciously striving for a tougher, sexier effect. But no matter how good the tunes assume they are, they don't possess genuine substance. Some of this might be because they sound like carefully-engineered solo performances; but the songs themselves are also lacking an additional spark found in tunes like "Eyes of the World," "Book of Love," and "Can't Go Back." Even "Empire State," which I think is silly, emits a real spark.

The only TITN songs that boast a band identity are "Little Lies," "Everywhere," "Seven Wonders," and "Isn't it Midnight." And regarding TUSK--the band could only do that kind of project once without becoming too splintered. As many have already noted, MIRAGE may be a low-key album, but it's also the last FM record where the ensemble works together to forge a sound.