After 2003’s Fingers Crossed and 2005’s In Case We Die, this Australian collective moved things ‘round a bit, dropping two members and releasing an album of In Case remixes (last year’s We Died, They Remixed). But the biggest change has been in their sound, shifting away from the lighter, poppy-er work on their first two albums for harder, tub-thumping beats, all the while only pumping up the party.
Architecture In Helsinki are strongest when they keep things (relatively) simple, being funky, with an emphasis on the ‘fun’. Places lays that down from the beginning, with “Red Turned White”, whose rhythm and vocals really get to the listener. Other bopping tracks in this vein include the slightly bigger and dance-ier “Hold Music”, the upbeat, freak-folk-ish explosion “Like It Or Not”, and the straight-up indie-funk of record finisher “The Same Old Innocence”. Curiously, the only song in this vein that doesn’t quite measure up to the rest, the slightly too sharp “Heart It Races”, is the first single.
However, this alt-funk is only half the album. While Architecture In Helsinki are at their best with the great bass & beats of “Innocence” and others, their departures on Places provide great change and variety on what would otherwise be too one-note of a record, with songs that stretch from solid to spectacular. Other than the high technotronic lappop of “Nothing’s Wrong”, whose great base had a little too much laid over it, the rest of the ‘different’ tracks (relatively speaking; in absolute terms, everything on Places is ‘different’…) are darker and lower. After three upbeat numbers to begin the release, the more pressing “Feather In A Baseball Cap” is definitely a nice shift, though gets a little too stomping at the end. And following “Feather” up with “Underwater” (that yes, sounds like an Architecture standard being played underwater) takes away from the importance of that song’s difference. Best are later tracks “Debbie”, a memorable disco-dark, disco-funk jam, and “Lazy (Lazy)”, a laid-back groove that’s wise and clever, but still funky.
Places Like This is a record of change, both of Architecture In Helsinki’s change from their previous two releases, and of the change within Places. The change between songs doesn’t always quite reward, but they certainly always livens things up. However, what’s more important is the change Architecture In Helsinki have made between records, going more powerful in their funk. That’s the change that really matters, and it was a change for the good.
MP3 Stream: "The Same Old Innocence"
– Tom Balfour
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