Architecture in Helsinki @ Union Transfer (11/16)

If there’s one thing that an astoundingly older crowd at Union Transfer on a dreary Philadelphia  Wednesday night could take away from Architecture in Helsinki’s bubbly set, it’s that the Australian five-piece doesn’t mind a bit of a boogie. With an impressive tour bus idling in the car lot and a decidedly depressing forecast keeping many punters away from a last minute, curiosity-fueled ticket purchase, it appeared from the outset that AIH had brought their A- game and the stragglers of Philadelphia could only offer up the sort of polite grooving and head-nodding that a band of far lesser repute might deserve. Taking a friend unfamiliar with AIH along to the show, I attempted to convince her that all Australians danced like the motley crew up on stage. But when frontwoman Kellie Sutherland busted out a couple of sharp elbow-jabbing moves midway through the jumping ‘Everything’s Blue’ from the band’s latest release, Moment Bends, things got slightly problematic. Regardless of whether you could stomach AIH’s synth-tastic sound, hugely indebted to the cheese-pop of the 1980s, it was hard to doubt their sincerity or dedication.

Judging a band’s performance by its dance moves seems an odd thing to do but strikes me as apt when it comes to Architecture in Helsinki, especially given that the infectious quality of tracks like ‘That Beat’ and ‘Do The Whirlwind’ rely so heavily on audience participation. Surely, they’re lively enough songs on their own, but there seemed to be an initially overpowering imperative to just stand still and take it all in – such was the professional, faultless way the quintet delivered their set. With an audience thus acting as well-behaved human sponges for much of the first half of the show, it was up to the band to instigate the sort of party atmosphere they were going for all on their own. What was so heartening about the resulting excitement on-stage was that it appeared almost entirely unplanned and far from the debilitating self-awareness that often plagues forced crowd-enlivening attempts. If anything, it was unclear that the band from rural NSW were actually shimmying for anyone’s benefit but their own. Dancing with complete abandon, the perfect tightness of the band’s musical collaboration was complimented by the organic, lucid and totally arbitrary motion of their limbs.

By about midway through the set, a wind-frozen audience had warmed to the Architects and moved, first self-consciously and then with more of the free love propagated up on stage, from toe-tapping and knee-slapping to a more full-bodied appreciation of the impressively refined show they’d put together. Charting indie crossover hits and slower, more ballad-esque tunes in equal measure, AIH – a force to be reckoned with since early in the 2000s – have mastered the chorus (usually punctuated by nonsensical but beautifully harmonized scatting) so that even in relative downtime, it was always obvious that there was an outlet for that building kinetic energy somewhere not too far off in the distance. The wonderful paradox of the band is that heavy synths, bass and pounding drums are always accompanied by whimsical lyricism, breathy vocals and the sort of spasmodic moves at which you can’t help but smile. It is in not taking themselves too seriously but still taking themselves somewhat seriously that AIH have formulated a great recipe for the indie pop performance. Add studied musicality to intrinsic exuberance, stir through with some real group dynamic and sprinkle with dance. Then watch it rise.

Read our interview Cameron Bird from Architecture in Helsinki here.

- David Seidler, Chat Goulette (Wednesdays from 12 - 2 pm @ WQHS.org)