Release Date: May 3, 2011
The members of Architecture in Helsinki must have taken Michael Jackson’s death really hard.
At least that’s one explanation for what happened to them in the four years following their last effort, the freaked-out Places Like This. On that album, singer Cameron Bird restlessly mirrored a coked-up Isaac Brock and spat out lines like “My mom thinks she’s in love with you.” Moment Bends shows Architecture in Helsinki continue to move in a markedly more pop-oriented direction with its music, and the difference is a little more Bee Gees, a little less Belle & Sebastian.
They’ve come a long way, baby; orthodox fans will remember the 2003 debut, Fingers Crossed, merely dipped its twee little toes in electronic frippery.
While nothing on Moment Bends matches the delicate beauty of songs like that album’s “Fumble,” they find just as much prettiness in dance floor electro-grooving as they ever did in hushed acoustic conversations. Almost a decade in, their architecture is no longer a small homey apartment; there are now skyscrapers and museums. And it sounds like a place where today’s household names would rock the rooftops.
With the possible exception of R.E.M., Architecture in Helsinki now has the distinction of being the most accessible band to star in Vincent Moon’s artsy, granular “take-away shows.” That director’s distinctively low-budget music videos capture a band performing live in out-of-context settings like parking lots, station wagons or silos. But this band’s camera time with Moon was a presidential term ago, and Moment Bends is only artsy the way a fashion show is, with a glut of novel starter ideas eventually streamlined into a slick, consumer-ready product. If that praise sounds precarious, it’s because the music is risky, too.
Michael Jackson is as recent as reference points go on Moment Bends. One of the year’s best records so far, Destroyer’s Kaputt, sought to emulate the penthouse rock of late period Roxy Music and a now-cool-again Sade. Moment Bends puts on short shorts and a snug polo before touching even more dangerous ground, covering Wings (“Sleep Talkin'”), ELO (the sugary Jeff Lynne guitar chug in “Everything’s Blue”), and Abba (the 8-track memories scattered throughout Moment Bends‘ other eight tracks). As a tribute to an especially fluffy version of Paul McCartney, “Sleep Talkin'” is the far and away standout track. Lyrical subtlety arm wrestles cocksure swag the way Macca’s been walking that tightrope for generations, and they absolutely nailed it.
Architecture in Helsinki has an uncanny ability for nailing it with their album titles, too, and Moment Bends is no different. Its lyrics touch on the possibilities of perceiving a single instance in time from different angles, using multiple singers as avatars for these perspectives.
Over the bonkers roller disco of “That Beep,” girl-power sidekick Kellie Sutherland sings, “Dressed up as bubblegum/I stuck to your shoe/Let’s run, can you gimme that?” When a metallic-sounding Bird fires back “I’m in denial and you’re no fun/I’m in denial and we are done,” the change from first person to second is the only thing signifying a new song to the casual listener.
The blur between tracks is actually a good thing, and it makes Moment Bends the most cohesive Architecture in Helsinki album since Fingers Crossed. Just as fellow oddballs Dirty Projectors have skyrocketed in consistency, there’s a robust confidence at play here (literally: this is Saturday night stomping ground music) that only came in flashes before. Even the sole misstep “B4 3D” appears smartly tacked on at the end for easy omission.
Despite the band’s still-clumsy name, Moment Bends‘ breezy pop moves should appeal to devotees of easily pronounceable stars Robyn and Lady Gaga. The 10 songs here can’t help but evoke a near-universal leisure activity for anyone with the luxury to put pop music as a priority. After shopping around for different sounds since its inception, Architecture in Helsinki have made big-mall music for serious retail therapists. If you still go for the physical thing, Moment Bends is worthy weight to the shopping bag.
Architechture in Helsinki – Moment Bends
- “Desert Island”
- “Escapee”
- “Contact High”
- “W.O.W.”
- “YR Go To”
- “Sleep Talkin’
- “I Know Deep Down”
- “That Beep”
- “Denial Style”
- “Everything’s Blue”
- “B4 3D”
