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Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die


Architecture In Helsinki make grandiose experimental twee pop. Why, you ask? Because they're an Australian octet, and that's reason enough. Their debut album, Fingers Crossed, is certainly a more engaging and interesting album simply because of all the beautiful and crazy things that are happening, but it is here on In Case We Die that the wacky kids of AiH start to hone that playful madness into pop music bliss.
The opening "Nevereverdid" is truly an epic piece of experimental pop. The first minute or so sounds like the march of ghouls and zombies, and at the 1:28 point, gentle pianos and vocal harmonies suddenly turn those moans into a song, a ballad, really. But then that all falls apart at the 2:11 point as everything but the piano drops out and a variety of percussive noises create a jumbled mess. The percussion of seemingly random things being slapped begin to pick up the pace as horns and a xylophone join in and gently crescendo into something that begins to sound like an energectic rock song, and when the snare drum starts to come in around 2:40, you suspect that the song is definitely going somewhere exciting, and your suspisions are confirmed by the bassline that kicks in at 2:56. The tempo builds and the crescendo swells and at 3:06, all of the cacophonious noise drops out to make room at 3:19 for the frantic criy "One! Of! Two! Things! I wish I had but never did!" The moans come back! The snare picks up again! More cries! And then, at the 4-minute mark, it all drops out except for the piano again, save a lone accompanying horn, a soothing reminder of where all that noise came from. 4:22, the snare comes back and the horns come back and everything is lively for a brief instant before it all dies down in a glorious rest.
My personal favorite track on the album, "Tiny Paintings," revels in its rythmic simplicity. A lone baritone repeats its murmur throughout as various playful elements, like tickled keyboards, xylophones, and staccato guitars, come and go every four measures and a variety of things are dropped, slapped and plucked in the background. Its all very likably and soothing, until the excitment builds at 2:09, where Cameron's voice - which has been steadily building from a calm falsetto into a squint holding back a contemptuous rage - stands all alone as he accuses "Two millionaires have bought this town and changed everything! I found you in a lost and found, white, white, white!!!" Its alternative pop mastery, is what it is.

Nevereverdid MP3
Tiny Paintings MP3