Lyfe Indoors – The Fear of Missing Out

Lyfe Indoors are a bedroom-pop coldwave artist from Seattle, Washington. Their sound borrows heavily from post-punk influences, such as Joy Division and New Order. Their debut, The Fear of Missing Out, demonstrates the band is capable of making solid atmospheric soundscapes, yet sadly the band doesn’t stick to their strengths in lieu of pop conventions.

The opener, Up That Hill, is a solid introduction and pop song, but rips off Joy Division far too much for its own good. There’s some ambience, but it’s rather muffling and adds noticeable dimension. The album picks up quite a lot of identity with the instrumental bridge Compass, and furthermore the gorgeous accompanying track Shoreline, which oozes with personality and soars thanks to its brooding soundscapes. Had the album curated more pieces as such, it would have been easy to recommend. Unfortunately, the remaining album is quite lacking. No Answer, like the opener, offers very little to differentiate itself from its influences. Much could be said about the the final two tracks, Private Life (Pt. 2) and Treehouse, the latter ending the album on a whimper.

Conventional song-writing and basic compositions aside, The Fear of Missing Out mostly suffers from a lack of identity. When the band decides to break conventions, it works quite admirably. The more ambient-centred pieces offer fresh light in the domain of post-punk. Moreover, a pop song or two in conjunction can break up the track-listing quite nicely – unfortunately, the album is over-reliant on them. Here’s hoping Lyfe Indoors will ditch the formula in future to further explore their sound in a more poignant manner.

Below Average

Listen to it here:

https://lyfeindoors.bandcamp.com/album/the-fear-of-missing-out

Lyfe Indoors – The Fear of Missing Out