ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI: PLACES LIKE THIS (2007)
1) Red Turned White; 2) Heart
It Races; 3) Hold Music; 4) Feather In A Baseball Cap; 5) Underwater; 6) Like
It Or Not; 7) Debbie; 8) Lazy (Lazy); 9) Nothing's Wrong; 10) Same Old
Innocence.
In 2006, Architecture In Helsinki parted ways
with two of their former members (Tara Shackell and Isobel Knowles),
drastically reducing their brass section — not a big problem, as the slots were
occupied by an even larger selection of session musicians as soon as the time was
ripe for the recording of their third album. A much bigger problem is that the
third album introduces serious change to their basic style — a change for the
worse, which, given AiH's already evident struggle to maintain their own face,
means a downright failure.
To put it bluntly, Cameron Bird had suddenly
decided that AiH need to start thinking of themselves as a rock band, thinking along the lines of
his (presumably) childhood idols from the pop-punk, New Wave, and electro-funk
departments — the accursed «1980s nostalgia», the great bane of the 2000s indie
movement, hits again with full devastating force. Consequently, ʽRed Turned
Whiteʼ is AiH working à la Prince;
ʽHold Musicʼ is AiH working à la
Talking Heads; ʽLazyʼ is AiH working à la...
UB40? Something like that. ʽSame Old Innocenceʼ is a most deceptive title to
finish off the record with — for the most part, Places Like This is busy chasing out the «same old innocence» of
the band's first two LPs, and replacing it with dance beats, fast grooves, and
a drunk, mildly surrealist, party atmosphere.
I am not saying that such a transformation
could not succeed in theory. But there are two huge, purely practical problems
that prevent that theory from working. First, as many other reviewers have
noted before, we have here a complete shift in singing style: not only do
Bird's vocals now occupy most of the space (largely ushering out the generally
far more agreeable leads from Sutherland), but he has also switched from
psychedelic hushes, murmurs, and whispers to screaming and barking, and there
are few things more irritating in this world than to have to listen to an unskilled
screamer and barker, unable to properly align his vocal noise with the general
atmosphere of the composition or the entire album. When David Byrne played the
«paranoid intellectual idiot» part on the early Heads records, he did it
credibly, both through his own singing and the perfect agreement with the music
that surrounded it. When Bird tries to do the same on ʽHold Musicʼ, he seems to
only respect the «idiot» part — there is nothing paranoid or intellectual about his effort. No meaning at all, for that
matter, just an empty form.
Second, this is still the same old Architecture
In Helsinki — in that they still
haven't figured out a proper way to come up with memorable songs. And now that
the original aura has dissipated, it is unclear what exactly should justify
listening to something like ʽRed Turned Whiteʼ. The openly annoying vocals?
The playful, but emotionless synth patterns? The lack of a clear opposition between
verse and chorus? The predictably incomprehensible lyrics? Whatever they wanted
to say with this song, it seems to me that they did not manage to say it in a
language I understand, either on the sensual or the intellectual level. And the
same goes for 90% of this album.
Here are the minimal bits and pieces that did
manage to speak out. Number one: the high-pitched, swirling, supernatural vocal
harmonies on ʽHeart It Racesʼ (slightly Arcade Fire-like in style). Number two:
some peculiarities of the arrangement on ʽUnderwaterʼ that really manage to convey
an «underwater» atmosphere (not that this is in any way original in 2007) — the
song in general is arguably the closest in spirit to the «proper» AiH. Number
three: cute pop guitar interplay at the end of ʽLazyʼ. Number four: big relief
when the whole thing is over — and an even bigger thank you for the fact that
it only barely runs over 30 minutes.
In all, this is one of the most displeasing
transitions from «mediocrity with a promise» to «embarrassment without
redemption». What is most offensive about the whole enterprise, of course, is
that the entire record still has a defiantly «artsy» feel — the band retains
their multi-instrumental kitsch, the complexity of compositions, the
inscrutability of the lyrics. But as far as my heart and mind conspire to tell
me, there is not an ounce of genuine substance or meaning in the whole thing. One
could, perhaps, see a bunch of college freshmen getting high to this kind of
thing, party spirit and all. However, they'd still have to be sorry about it
the morning after the party. A disgusted, rather than simply dazed and confused,
thumbs down
here.
Check "Places Like This" (CD) on Amazon Check "Places Like This" (MP3) on Amazon
>>...he seems to only respect the «idiot» part — there is nothing paranoid or intellectual about his effort.<<
ReplyDeleteThis is the exact sentiment that I got listening the previous album on Grooveshark. They sound like some infantile Arcade Fire wannabes that got brain damage in the process.
Gone are the days when even geek bands like Talking Heads or B52's had balls and guts.