The Beat Surrender

Architecture In Helsinki are a six piece band who seem to randomly play whatever instruments come to hand at the time, which means if nothing else, they are a very talented bunch of musicians who really do know how to play and make music.

I say that because at times you would be forgiven when listening to their third album, for thinking that they had kind of thrown things together in a ramshackle way, almost floundering through the songs trying to find a certain sound or something to underpin the songs.

Places Like This is an album that requires some work, particularly if you are new to the band and haven’t had the first two albums to get accustomed to the slightly strained and more than a little strange (some would say unique vocal style). My first listen to these ten tracks really brought me no joy whatsoever and I wasn’t far off throwing the towel in. As with most good albums though i’m pleased that I didn’t, the work and period of pain you have to go through are worth it in the end.

By the third and fourth listen, you are finding more cohesion in your listening experience, the umpa lumpa vocals that they employ for a chorus on a couple of tracks still don’t add anything of value to the two tracks they appear on, Heart It Races is a good track without the ‘chorus’and likewise aside from the chimp style singing on Like It Or Not it’s probably the best track on the album.

Elsewhere, Nothing’s Wrong is the nearest they get to a straight up pop song, this is helped by lead female vocals on the track as a result the song is far more melodic and less angular in nature. Lazy (Lazy) is a mellow track that works really well and at the other end of the scale Hold Music is a three person relationship song that is a lot rockier in stature and features a beautiful horn section.

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