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Architecture in HelsinkiDo the WhirlwindHeart It Races
Architecture in Helsinki developed from a late 1990s group, the short-lived teenage funk-grunge outfit, The Pixel Mittens.[1] That band had formed in Albury, New South Wales, by locals Cameron Bird (lead singer), Jamie Mildren and Sam Perry. By 1999, the trio had moved to the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, where they used the name Architecture in Helsinki for Bird's first collection of self-penned songs. Bird got the new band's name after cutting up a newspaper and re-arranging words.[2] They played a small number of gigs before going into hiatus.[1] In 2000, while studying photography at art school, Bird met James Cecil, the two developed a musical connection and within months Cecil joined the band on drums.[1] Around that time Bird took up guitar, he also met Kellie Sutherland at a party and invited her to play clarinet for the band.[1][3] The five-member group began to work on their debut album, Fingers
Crossed, at Super Melody World, Cecil's recording studio built in
a church hall in a south-eastern suburb.[1][3] Recording was halted
when Bird left for an extended holiday in the US, leaving the album
unfinished. Upon return from Portland, Oregon, Bird was inspired
to write short, catchy pop songs, which marked a new direction for
the band.[1] At art school, Bird met members of The Rhinestone Horns,
a brass ensemble, and he recruited Isobel Knowles, Tara Shackell
and Gus Franklin – all three originally from Victoria's Western
District[4] – to complete Architecture in Helsinki's eight-member
line-up.[1][3] In 2002, the group signed with independent record
label, Trifekta, which released their debut single, "Like a
Call" in December. Nearly two years after starting work, Fingers
Crossed was issued on 9 February 2003.[3] Most of the group's members
play multiple instruments and their music makes use of a wide range
of instruments, from analog synthesizers, samplers, the glockenspiel
and handclaps; to concert band instruments like the trumpet, tuba,
trombone, saxophone, clarinet and recorder; and the more standard
guitars, bass guitar and drums.[5] In 2003, Architecture in Helsinki toured Australia supporting The Go-Betweens, then undertook their own east coast tour followed with a support tour for international acts, Yo La Tengo, Múm and Arab Strap.[6] The group issued the Kindling EP in October, which included collaborations with Qua (an electronica artist), B(if)tek (electronic duo) and Bogdan Raczynski (braindance artist).[6] As a bonus on the disc, Knowles provided an animated video for "Like a Call".[6] In December they appeared at the Meredith Music Festival.[4] From February 2004, the group toured Japan, Europe and US.[4] In April, Fingers Crossed was released in North America by Bar/None Records.[7] In 2005, the group issued their second album In Case We Die on their own Tailem Bend label.[1] It featured guest appearances by local musicians and was produced by The Carbohydrates (James Cecil and Cameron Bird's production duo) in Cecil's Super Melody World studio, now set up in a large garage space in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs. It was mixed by Tony Espie (The Avalanches, New Buffalo, Robert Palmer), at 001 Studios in Melbourne. Cyclic Defrost's Vaughan Healey described a typical gig as "a bewildering ride through dynamic tempo changes, finger clicks and swapped instruments. You never really know who is going to sing or what will happen next, and somehow the eight-piece juggles this anarchic structure with a music class worth of instruments and staging rearrangements."[8] For the ARIA Music Awards of 2005, the album received three nominations:
'Best Independent Release', 'Best Cover Art' (by Bird) and 'Best
Adult Contemporary Release'.[9] The song "It'5!" (pronounced
"it's five") received wide airplay on the national radio
network Triple J and reached No. 56 in their annual Hottest 100
for 2005.[1] In mid-2006, Architecture in Helsinki announced via their MySpace page that Knowles and Shackell were no longer members and cited "creative conflicts" with Bird as the reason for their departure.[1][10] Knowles continued with her work in animation and music.[11] In September 2007, Franklin, Knowles, Shackell and Sutherland provided the brass section on the Kevin Ayers album The Unfairground.[12][13] Shackell returned to tertiary studies and is a ceramicist.[14] On 28 October 2006, as a six-member group, Architecture in Helsinki
released We Died, They Remixed, a remix album consisting of all
tracks from In Case We Die, and the song "Like a Call"
from Fingers Crossed.[1][10] Artists who provided remixes included
Hot Chip, New Buffalo, Safety Scissors, DAT politics, Mocky and
Isan.[1] Architecture in Helsinki issued their next album, Places Like This
on 28 July 2007 on Polyvinyl Record Co.. In September 2006, Pitchfork
Media reported that they were working on tracks with Bird in Brooklyn
and other members in Melbourne.[10] It was recorded at Dave Sitek's
(from TV on the Radio)[15] studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and
in Sydney's Big Jesus Burger Studios between October 2006 and January
2007. It was engineered and mixed by Chris Coady, who has previously
worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Grizzly Bear. The
first single from the album, "Heart It Races", was released
ahead of the album in May and peaked into the top 50 on the ARIA
Singles Chart.[16] Places Like This reached the top 30 on the related
albums chart.[16] In the US, the album reached the top 10 on two
of Billboard magazine's component charts: Top Electronic Albums
and Heatseekers Albums in September.[17] Even though the group's name includes Finland's capital Helsinki, they first played there at the Flow Festival in August 2007: "When we were in Norway at the end of last year there were a few Finnish interviewers who came to interview us mainly about the name. I think they were quite perplexed. To us, the name means having to answer many questions and inquiries about the name, which I guess, is entirely understandable." Sam Perry said.[18] The band also issued other singles, "Debbie", "Hold Music", and "Like It Or Not". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2007, "Heart It Races" was nominated as 'Single of the Year'.[19] "Heart It Races" and "Hold Music" were listed in the 2007 Triple J Hottest 100 at No. 19 and No. 36, respectively.[20] In 2007 they did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by Vincent Moon. During the ensemble's New Year's Eve performance on 1 January 2008,
they came on at midnight, they announced that it was James Cecil's
last show with Architecture in Helsinki. After leaving the band,
Cecil provided backing vocals, engineering and mixing for Kes Band's
2008 album Kes Band and drums for Qua's 2011 release Q&A.[21] In November 2008, Architecture in Helsinki, now a five-member band, released an EP, That Beep, which peaked into the top 100 on the Australian singles chart.[22] Work on the follow-up album, Moment Bends, was initially given the project name, Vision Revision. In October 2010, the band announced via Twitter that the record was finished.[23] In January 2011, they signed with Modular Recordings.[24] The first single issued from the album was "Contact High" which reached the top 100 in March.[25] Moment Bends was released on 8 April 2011 in Australia,[24] and 3 May in the US.[26] It peaked at No. 12 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[16] The album received mixed to positive critical reception, with Metacritic assigning it an aggregate score of 59, indicating 'mixed or average reviews'.[27] The song "Escapee" from Moment Bends is featured in football
video-game, FIFA 12. Current members Cameron Bird – lead vocals, guitars, percussion (since 2000)[8][28] Former members James Cecil – drums, backing vocals, guitars, keyboards (2000–2008)[8][21] [edit] Tours The band have toured heavily throughout Australia, U.S.A., U.K.
and Europe playing festivals such as Coachella, Sasquatch, Sound
Relief, Big Day Out, SxSW, Primavera, Groovin The Moo, Pukkelpop
and Haldern. Released: 9 February 2003 – Released: 5 April 2005 67 Released: 28 July 2007 30 Released: 8 April 2011 12 Released: 11 December 2006 – Like a Call – (2 December 2002) Trifekta (HORSE021-2) [edit] Singles
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