Akin to the infectious positivity currently being championed by the children of nu-rave, but leaving behind the re-hashed rave electronics, Architecture in Helsinki return with their third full-length album. Standing aside from their previous effort, In Case We Die, AIH relentlessly push the colourful and the curious with their ten-song strong rambunctious fairground ride – Places Like This.
Fusing tropical percussion, jovial storytelling and the odd brass instrument, AIH are often cartoon-like but never two dimensional. They have created a sound that is utterly contemporary, yet indebted to the B-52′s or the Talking Heads; their indie-pop predecessors. And at just half an hour long, they have cleverly avoided upbeat overkill.
Debby – a stand-out track makes great use of Cameron Bird’s idiosyncratic ramblings which effervescently juxtapose with the sweet prairie lashings of Kellie Sutherland as they harmoniously repeat ‘Debby, Debby, Debby’. But it is forthcoming single Heart it Races that ties in all that is good for AIH; a slow burning and subsequently climactic introduction slides into a euphoric chorus causing butterflies to the stomach. In true laid-back Aussie style, the happy go-lucky sextuplets even dedicate a song to the incessantly idle in Lazy. Funkadelic and with the occasional resonance of early hip-hop, AIH are wise in varying their sound; at time stripped down and others dressed up, we are privy to the process of layering the rich textures to produce these quirky scenes and it makes for a more satisfying listener experience. Some may find this pervading optimism a little testing during the more experimental tracks, such as Like It Or Not but this is quickly exasperated by the rapid change in tempo that features heavily on the album.
With such a unified sound, it is hard to comprehend that most of the album was conceived and constructed transatlantically (on msn, no less) with lead singer Cameron Bird relocated in Brooklyn, New York and the remaining five back in their native Melbourne, Australia. But this has proven wholly successful in achieving the surprising diversity in their overall communal sound. To anyone who catches Architecture in Helsinki at a festival this summer: you’re in for a real treat, this music deserves sunshine.