ID’s sophomore album, written in the crucible of a wild ride through explosive fame and fortune, Smoke + Mirrors is full of murky emotional outpouring woven into a tapestry of richly layered, heavily produced melodies which carry an intensely medieval quality, as though plucked from an underground crypt.

Learning that everyone goes through dark moments of self-doubt, depression and questioning life's purpose. The vulnerability is deeply relatable and leaves a lasting impact.

Shots is the song that introduced me to Smoke + Mirrors… I literally cried when I read the lyrics for the first time. Oh, the memories, the artwork, the journaling that poured out from it. I had never heard anyone express so perfectly my own anguish. Polaroid is a song I love to sing to myself, along with Thief.

I'm So Sorry is… Wild. Oh, how clearly I remember the first night I sat down to listen to it, wrestling with the grungy garage band style and the edgy lyrics: “a son of a - I'm so sorry!”

Make artwork. Particularly inspired by the collection of surrealist oil paintings provided by renowned artist Tim Cantor for each track, I used digital collage art as a way to explore my own feelings of darkness, confusion and pain. Every fluttering autumn leaf, even the grubby grackles in the parking lot, became a study in surrealism and a trigger for memorized lyrics which became poetry wallpapering my mind.

Validated, comforted, accepted, understood. It encouraged me to embrace my brokenness and use it to create beautiful things.

People need to remember they are never alone, that someone else is going through what they are, and there is always something positive to be done with one's anguish.

Probably an overproduced album, Smoke + Mirrors piles on the sounds to create a dense web of shadows, lights and darks like the paintings Tim Cantor provided for the cover art. You can take it or leave it, but it remains a uniquely seminal album that has taught me many things.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Cd Imagine Dragons Smoke Mirror   from Amazon.Com!

Created Oct 05, 2025 at 8:56pm • Submit your own review...