Architecture in Helsinki

Architecture in Helsinki have such a distinctive sound that it is difficult to go to one of their concerts and be unimpressed if you happen to be a fan. I do, and, predictably, I wasn’t disappointed. Even with only seven of their usual eight members appearing they completely filled the stage as well as the bar.

Local act Nellie and the Fat Band warmed up the crowd with their original and funky sound and by the time of the main event rolled around the entire bar was full of eagerly anticipating faces. Architecture in Helsinki has received significant radio coverage since their second album ‘In Case We Die’ and people have clearly liked what they heard.

Although their performance was slightly chaotic it was noticeably more coherent than it was eighteen months ago. Once again there was an amazing array of instruments played, and an equally mind boggling number of instrument changes. One thing Architecture in Helsinki managed that I have never seen before was a convincing use of not one, but two triangles on stage at one time!

The atmosphere in the Tas Uni Bar was fairly laid back but that’s excluding the large knot of crazily dancing students whipped into frenzy by the kooky beats. It was a friendly crowd for both dancers and non-dancers alike.

The lack of one of their guitarists seemed to become a problem at one stage when Cameron Bird (vocals) seemed to forget how to tune his guitar, but his absence didn’t cause any other noticeable problems.

Architecture in Helsinki maintained a great connection with the audience and their stage performance remained as energetic as the limited space allowed until it flagged just before their encore. They played a comfortable mix of songs from their first and their new CDs, which struck a chord with everyone in the .

All considered it’s a gig I’d gladly go to again. After all, who else can make discord and random shouty noises sound this good?

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