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The Dodos. Chris Farren. Julia Jacklin. Pedro The Lion. Architecture in Helsinki 's debut, Fingers Crossed , introduces their very appealing collage of electronic and indie pop. While there are a lot of groups out there mixing these styles, this Australian octet's music stands out, and not just because they use tap dancing as an instrument.
Even though the band uses a wide array of sounds, ranging from bass recorder to a host of analog synths and samplers, Architecture in Helsinki have an admirably restrained hand with their sonic arsenal. Most of the album trades in charming pop miniatures like "Souvenirs," "Imaginary Ordinary," and "To and Fro," all of which are so quietly breezy that it would be easy to tune them out on the first few listens.
That would be a mistake, however, as there is a lot to explore within the group's songs: "Scissor Paper Rock" sounds like a Burt Bacharach song from the future; "Spring " has bouncy, almost Japanese-sounding percussion and a melody to match, along with a song title that's far enough away to still seem futuristic. Fingers Crossed 's most striking song is "Owls Go," which makes the most of the band's playful minimalism and production wizardry.
The track zips between lots of musical elements -- including samples, choral vocals, and children singing -- like a game of sonic Ping-Pong. While it's not a perfect album -- occasionally the whispery vocals become cutesy instead of cute -- Fingers Crossed is a charming debut that should please anyone who likes creative indie pop. AllMusic relies heavily on JavaScript. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to use the site fully.
Blues Classical Country. Electronic Folk International. Jazz Latin New Age. Aggressive Bittersweet Druggy. Energetic Happy Hypnotic. Romantic Sad Sentimental. Sexy Trippy All Moods. Drinking Hanging Out In Love. Ultimately, what's most disarming about the band's brand of blissful musing is that it's so stupidly pleasant to listen to: Melding lilting harmonies, sweet, high-pitched synthesizers, tittering percussion, and assorted woodwinds, Architecture lay out a weird and whimsical electro-pop buffet, effortless yet perplexing.
A collective of eight Australians five men, three women , Architecture tote around a massive pile of gear-- xylophone, flute, four different kinds of guitar, glockenspiel, trumpet, tuba, trombone, assorted synths, melodica, thumb piano, clarinet, recorder, bass, and various drums, their tinny din augmented only by a mess of vocals including contributions by some craggy-voiced kids , handclaps, tap dancers, and finger snaps.
It's impossible to understand the group without understanding their pile of stuff and the penchant for tinkles and beeps it so blatantly implies; despite employing more than thirty noisemakers and a diverse choir of age-ranged voices, Fingers Crossed manages to end up sounding excessive and slight at the very same time.
The combination is beautifully baffling. Credit the band's songwriting prowess: "The Owl's Go" is Fingers Crossed 's brilliant creative apex, an insane and addictive menagerie of sounds, melodies, and gleeful circus bits-- listening feels a little like cracking open the mind of a manic-depressive in full-on hysteria, climbing inside while he shakes with joy, elated to the point of drooling. While the rest of Fingers Crossed never quite matches this high, there are other notable moments: "Fumble" is a goofy-but-engaging tuba-heavy celebration, and "Like a Call", with its muted beats and meandering bassline, is an inadvertently touching promise.
But just as benign backyard clowns have earned a spot in pre-adolescent nightmares, there's something sort of terrifying about Architecture in Helsinki's strung-out ecstasy.
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