Architecture In Helsinki “Heart It Races”

Architecture In HelsinkiArtist:
ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI
Label:
POLYVINYL RECORD CO.
Video:
“HEART IT RACES”
Director:
Kris Moyes
Add Date:
June 10, 2007

 

Good wishes dear programming friends! It’s Andy Gesner and the staff from HIP Video Promo, pleased to be able to bring you the new music and video from Australia’s incomparable Architecture In Helsinki. Over the past five years, the Melbourne combo has been one of indiepop’s most elusive quantities, but they’re also one of its best-loved. Their music is joyous, spontaneous, simultaneously primal and digital, orchestral, whimsical, skewed, a gateway into an altered universe. On an Architecture In Helsinki track, there are no rules: strings and woodwinds coexist with ratty-sounding guitar and weird percussion, baroque-inspired verses bump heads with techno-minimalist choruses, words are playful and surreal, and melodies dart, dive, skitter and dovetail like honeybees in flight. Fingers Crossed introduced the aesthetic – brass, woodwinds, synthesizers and occasional samples, infectious tunes, children’s choirs, buzzy synths and the delirious back-and-forth boy-girl vocals – and In Case We Die, its followup, showed it could reach a mass audience. “Do The Whirlwind”, the single from In Case We Die, built something magnificently danceable out of an oscillating analog synth, a simple melody, and some subtle studio trickery. The track became one of the highlights of 2005, finding its way on “Best Of” lists in indie-rock magazines and websites worldwide.

Since the worldwide release of In Case We Die, Architecture In Helsinki has crisscrossed the globe, touring America with Death Cab For Cutie and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and sharing bills with inspirations like David Byrne and Belle & Sebastian. A well-received compilation album – cheekily titled We Died They Remixed – featured other artists’ reinterpretations of tracks from the Architecture In Helsinki sophomore effort. Places Like This, the third full-length arrives arrives August 7th (they release the Heart It Races EP on June 5th), and judging from the first song released, fans of independent rock can expect more inspired delirium. “Heart It Races” is “Do The Whirlwind” plus: it’s got an even bigger beat, an insistent and near-primeval hook, a celebratory riff played on steel drum, and winning performances from the twin vocalists.

There’s always been something quite tribal about Architecture In Helsinki’s image and music, and the clip for “Heart It Races” makes the subtext manifest. Directed by Kris Moyes – best known for his innovative clips for the Presets and Cut Copy – the “Heart It Races” video pokes fun at contemporary ethnography while dazzling us with some magnificent day-glo puppetry. The video peers on what appears to be the burial rites of the last remaining members of a primitive tribe. The natives are, of course, the six members of Architecture In Helsinki, each outfitted with a black bodysuit and a plush puppet dangling around his or her neck. The marionettes mimic the movements of their human hosts: sitting cross-legged along a canal, brandishing a staff, extracting red, fluffy hearts from their dead comrades. The tribe resides along a canal (the clip was shot in Mexico City), and the outdoor scenes are spectacular. But when the lights go off, the fun really starts – the members of the band vanish, and the puppets are left alone to frolic together under the blacklights.

Matt Lunsford and Seth Hubbard at Polyvinyl Records are two of our most cherished friends and clients and we are so psyched that this will be the fifth video that you will receive from them this year! They have been kind enough to set us up with a ton of copies the Heart It Races EP, so let us know if you’d like to get your hands on some copies for on-air giveaways! The band will also be in the US for a few dates in June, so if they come to your market, let us know if you’d like to catch up with them for a quick video interview. If you need more info, call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779 or e-mail us at info@HIPVideoPromo.com. You can also visit www.PolyvinylRecords.com to find out more about Architecture In Helsinki.

 

Polyvinyl Architecture In Helsinki