Wrapped in digital bomblets, Places Like This comes with the 8-bit beeps and whizzes favoured by a new breed of indie bands. This digital twee still seems to be in a formative state for a lot of acts, and Architecture In Helsinki fall party to this unfinished sounding music: Album opener 'Red Turned White' use these bleeps to amusing effect but they manage to clash with the playful harmonies of the chorus. That the track manages to fade and drift into some lush and twinkling satellite ridden celestial state by the close shows that something beautiful can come out of it, if you've got the patience.

But it doesn't last. One of the major problems with the record is that the band don't seem to have this patience. They sound like The B52s with a Nintendo on LOUD in the background, particularly in A.D.D. inducing tracks like 'Hold Music' and 'Lazy (Lazy)'. 'Like It Or Not' also picks up and races, but it runs into some fantastical Apples In Stereo territory, using exuberant youth like audio dynamite and slapping the listener about. That this comes after the sublime and atmospheric 'Underwater' gives it more power. That track works brilliantly to evoke the depths surrounding the listener, the loops almost endless, like the echoes of a Whale's call.

But sadly they aren't the sum of these parts: the piece is far too disjointed for that and doesn't have the natural ebb and flow of those it takes from. Mahogany do eclectic electric atmospherics better, David E. Sugar does Game Boy Pop spectacularly well and Broken Social Scene pretty much have the 'misfits storm the battlements' thing down to a tee. Architecture In Helsinki just don't really do it for me. Game Over.

- Matthew Sheret

written by on 14/08/2007 11:48:00