Architecture in Helsinki – Moment Bends
Modular Recordings: 2011
It has become increasingly difficult for bands to develop gracefully on their own accord. If a band re-creates similar sounds, they are deemed redundant. Stray too far from the original sound and risk abandoning your audience. This predicament is at the core of Moment Bends, the fourth album (due May 3), from Architecture in Helsinki.
On their latest album, the band has outgrown its effortless-sounding spree of polyphonic melodies and seemingly slapdash percussion in favor of analog synthesizers and shiny-wrapped, unironic 80s affectations. But the wrapping feels too tight, the allusions almost too blatant, flirting too closely with the ledge of homage and feeling the free fall of copycat irrelevance.
Which is not to say the album – the band’s first since 2007 – is not without its bright spots. There are tunes that double as siren calls to the dance floor (opener “Desert Island”) and melodies that satisfactorily stick (single “Contact High”, “Yr Go To”).
Other times though (“Denial Style” for instance), the band fares far less successfully. “I Know Deep Down” has a huge chorus but is dragged down by its cloying 80s aesthetic. “That Beep” borders on skip-worthy but saves itself through sheer exuberance and commitment.
Taken on the whole, the album feels sanitized the point of exclusion. With its highly-polished veneer, they sacrificed some charming imperfections and it can be hard to hold on to something so slippery.
2 out of 5
