Architecture in Helsinki
Places Like This
Release Date: Aug 21, 2007
Genre(s): Indie, Pop
Record label: Polyvinyl
Music Critic Score
How the Music Critic Score works
Buy Places Like This from Amazon
Album Review: Places Like This by Architecture in Helsinki
Fairly Good, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Although the band formed in Melbourne, Architecture in Helsinki's six musicians are dotted across several continents, and they take the same multinational approach to their music; apparently they discuss song ideas via instant messaging. This album, their third, hurls in everything from trombone and steel drums to something called a "two-note apocalyptic swamp axe". What that refers to is unclear, but it can't be a bad thing if it assists a ridiculously infectious jerky party vibe somewhere between Talking Heads' juddering funk and early B52s' stop-start pop.
Based on rating 2.5/5
Review Summary: A forced, average output from the now six-piece band.The architecture in the city of Helsinki draws from a few different eras, mostly neoclassical (which makes up the city centre) and Art Nouveau, a period of architecture in the romantic age. There was one architect in particular, Alvar Aalto, who is considered a love/hate architect. He built in a style called functionalism, where the purpose of the building is the primary influence on its design.
Based on rating 5/10
Architecture in Helsinki have never been afraid of taking risks. The octet made a radical change from its first album to its second, trading the spare, sweet sonics of Fingers Crossed for the brilliant collision of sounds and melodies on In Case We Die. The band attempts another dramatic switch on Places Like This, diving into brash, bold indie-dance without looking back.
'Places Like This'
is available now