The Graun's resident indiepop kid, Jude Rogers, has
a track-by-track, minute-by-minute review of the new Architecture In Helsinki album:
(track 1) 0.37 Good God - this is the strangest damned thing I've ever heard. Punchy, nasty drum beats, chunky, clunky metallic keyboards - imagine a Prince album track from the mid 1980s reworked by the devil - and the Cookie Monster drunkenly growling on top about brides and grooms and offices.
(track 5) 1.36 Here's a thing: I like this band much more when they're calmer. Does this say something about me or them? Am I a frighteningly boring old bugger, startled to smithereens when I hear the merest snarl? Or is music better when it's controlled and considered? This young thing will plump for the second option.
(track 10) 1.13 Wo-ah! Plink! BZZZZ! Suddenly I know EXACTLY why it's not working. It's not quite a case of too many cooks spoiling things; it's a case of too many ingredients being stirred into the broth. You know when you're younger, and you think the more herbs and flavours you put into a meal the fancier it'll be? And then you have a nice, simply cooked bit of beef and it's the best thing you've ever had? It's like that. Less wow, bam, dang, wang, wallop, wah, my architectural friends. Just stick to the wow.