Melbourne's Architecture In Helsinki are back and more synthy than ever! I would almost think they started hanging out with Cut Copy, the way they concentrate on creating ultra catchy numbers and a pure pop sensibility! Recorded over two years at the band’s studio space, the royally-titled Buckingham Palace, the band enlisted friend/collaborator Francois Tetaz to aid them in creating dance floor-ready rhythms that are as sophisticated and romantic as they are move-inducing. According to songwriter Cameron Bird, the LP is all about “being at one with our ideas, obsessed with popular music and falling in love with our hometown. We wanted to build a record to get lost in. A record that always feels exactly what you are feeling.”
Moment Bends makes good on the single’s promise, with Architecture in Helsinki moving forward by looking back -- not only to their own skills with hooks and melodies, but to ‘80s synth pop too. “Desert Island” captures the album’s feel, its artificial tropical paradise coming across like a strange but appealing hybrid of Wham! and Matthew Wilder's “Break My Stride.” It also features some of Bird's finest singing to date, falling somewhere in between his earlier wispy vocals and his forced throatiness on Places Like This. Much of Moment Bends finds the band discovering a happy medium between its old and new sounds, as on “Everything’s Blue,” which tempers Places Like This' attempts at funk with a fresher and more natural approach. Architecture in Helsinki don’t so much borrow from the ‘80s as they embody them, whether on “Denial Style”'s Paisley Park pop or “Contact High”. At times, the pristine sonics overwhelm the actual songs, and the lone ballad “B4 3D” closes the album on a slightly anticlimactic note, but overall Moment Bends is a fun, positive album that gets us ready for Spring to finally arrive!
Take a listen to one of my favorite tracks, "Contact High" here.
Buy your copy of "Moment Bends" here.
No comments:
Post a Comment