Architecture In Helsinki
members - biography - shows - CDs - website

Members
Tara Shackell
Gus Franklin
Kellie Sutherland
Jamie Mildren
Isobel Knowles
Cameron Bird
James Cecil
Sam Perry

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Biography
It already looks like it's going to be a long hot summer. As the industry turns to the obvious end of the year compilations, Trifekta Records take an altogether different, cooler turn.

What better way to find musical solace from the heat than with the Arctically-monikered Architecture In Helsinki? Their four-track debut single, Like A Call, comes your way December 2nd, 2002.

Have you heard of that game "Six Degrees Of Separation"? Well, if ever there was a way you could draw a line cohesively linking post-acid Beach Boys, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, The Magnetic Fields, Prince, Burt Bacharach, "Genius of Love" by The Tom Tom Club, The Go-Betweens and Peter Hook, at the end of it all you would find Architecture In Helsinki.

The bands' inception is an equally intricate thread of connections. Sam Perry (bass) and Cameron Bird (vocals, guitars, synth) met way back in 1986 at Corowa Primary school. Cameron would later meet Jamie Mildren (guitar) at Albury High School. Kellie Sutherland (vocals, clarinet, synth) bonded with Cameron at a party in North Fitzroy in 1999, and finally Cameron stumbled across James Cecil (drums) in a video-editing suite in 2000.

As a five-piece, Architecture In Helsinki began colluding musically in the depths of winter 2000. Recently they have been performing live with the three piece "Rhinestone Horns", and after collaborating on the band’s recordings and live sound over the last year, Isobel Knowles has finally joined the band as their sixth member on trumpet.

First questions first, it may be appropriate to ask the band - where on earth did you get that name? Says Cameron: "It started out being some words that sounded nice pronounced out loud. Then my friend Dave showed me a picture of the train station in Helsinki and it was truly amazing. I guess it alludes to finding wonder in something obscure. And yes, we've stuck with it through the upturned noses and the "oh how pretentious" comments...Whatever, it's just a name."

After a good year sporadically spent rehearsing, swapping instruments and occasionally playing live the band finally settled down into recording their debut album (the soon to be released Fingers Crossed) almost two years ago. Through a number of recording locations that read like a litany of the beautiful, joyous, sad and everyday - beach houses, unused church halls, flash recording studios and student bedrooms - the band emerged with an album of rare beauty and charming naivety. Comparisons may be drawn to a number of bands but we feel it's best you draw your own conclusions.

Which leads us to the first thing you'll hear- the debut single Like A Call. The title track is mixed by whiz-bang genius Tony Espie (whose mixing credits are as disparate and encompassing as Robert Palmer to The Avalanches) and is backed with a non-album track (Feather In A Baseball Cap), a collaborative piece with electronic artist Qua (Sooner Than Soon), and a Jeremy Dower remix of Like A Call.

The single gives insight into how Architecture In Helsinki straddle a number of genres with winning ease, touching on indie, electonica and pop, often within the one song. The collaborations and remixes come from "super talented friends of ours who we felt shared a similar musical affinity with us. What better than to kick out the jams together?"

The lead track Like A Call is warm, tremulous and laden with anticipation: "A love song dressed up in a busy weekend before the first time I flew in a jumbo jet" says Cameron.

Feather In A Baseball Cap is quirky stop start ¾ chicken funk, a total contrast to Like A Call's linear build and swell.

Sooner Than Soon, the collaboration with Qua moves with delicate clockwork precision, layers of vocodered vocals and skittering beats smothered with the sound of musical boxes and whirring found sounds.

Finally, the Jeremy Dower remix of Like A Call seemingly pays homage to mid 80s Stock Aitken Waterman, with dance pop sensibilities, handclaps, snippets of vocal samples and electronic toms.

Response to the single has already been fantastic with a lot of justified industry "buzz" (whatever that means) both locally and internationally. The band have received significant play from legendary John Peel of BBC UK's Radio One.