Indoor Life formed in San Francisco but later emigrated to New York City. On their first album, they field a five-piece lineup that includes trombone, tapes and synthesizer. The music — while generally structured into song form — also contains heaps of silly noises and improvised bleeps and squawks. The lyrics (in English, French and German) are promising, but not all are supported by melodies. Overall, Indoor Life seem to be an artful, pretentious collective of progressive intellectuals bent on making accessible cleverness for their own satisfaction. Maybe you’ll like it, too.
Recorded as a trio, the second album is better organized but no less self-indulgent, drawing out simple song ideas into overly long, repetitive excursions. Jorge Socarras has a pleasant, flexible voice; his two cohorts (synths and guitars) evince much technical prowess, but these monotonous creations are only intermittently entertaining and rarely captivating.