Leave Your Life

When you hear of an artist recording an album at home using rudimentary equipment, sparse efforts like Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska may come to mind, but an atmospheric record along the lines of In My Room's Leave Your Life almost certainly does not. But Baltimore's Rich Gaige didn't take the pseudonym In My Room for nothing as his album was recorded, well, in his room. Gaige manages to meld goth, ambient, hip-hop, and lo-fi elements into a trippy soundscape that belies its origin in seclusion. Gaige explores love 's darkside with a whisper-to-scream scream vocal style that occasionally evokes Trent Reznor, but by contrasting stark elements with lush touches, In My Room's sound is all its own. Because Gaige's made-for-headphones production at times calls to mind the wizardry of Tricky and Moby, it's tempting to think of what he could do with an actual studio at his disposal. But perhaps when exploring themes of solitude and abandonment, it's simply best to work alone. In My Room may be a studio creation, but with Annapolis' Jenny Andrews lending a hand with loops, beats, and programming, it's a potent live band that performs regularly in the Baltimore and Washington areas as well. Leave Your Life Behind is available through Fowl Records and a number of independent music stores. Dan