Heath McNease's hangdog wit and musical meld of hip-hop and folk are caught in fine form on The House Always Wins, his latest collection of smart, spiritually-tinged tunes. McNease has paired his sound down to bare essentials here, dressing up his acoustic-guitar work with keyboards and percussion in spots. As before, the album presents him as a thoughtfully scruffy Mid-American troubadour, fumbling his way through romance (“On and Down,” “The House Always Wins”) and searching for a closer connection with God (“Selah,” “Cause and Cure”). McNease’s casual, sometimes sleepy vocal style can disguise the probing philosophical questions within songs like “Your Enemy” (a meditation upon divine love) and “Waiting for Godot” (an eerie riff on the famous Beckett play). Sonically, the album invites comparisons to Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson, with Heath injecting some hip-hop flow into “Come Prepared.” McNease can be playful, even goofy at times, but The House Always Wins reaffirms there’s more to this artist than bouncy rhythms and clever rhymes.