MOST people wouldn’t associate Melbourne indie-pop quintet Architecture in Helsinki with sport; in recent photos they look straight out of a pallid hipster t-shirt catalogue rather than fresh off a playing field.
However, as frontman Cameron Bird revealed during a recent chat with Community, the group members are mad AFL supporters.
“I go to every single game I can. If we’re playing when Essendon is on the oval I try and get score updates in between songs,” he said over the phone from Byron Bay where the band is enjoying a short break from touring.
The Bombers supporter and his musical cronies recorded their newly released fourth album Moments Bend in their Melbourne studio Buckingham Palace (named after a photo of Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, which they hung on the wall).
They purposely settled down in their hometown after recording previous album Place like This via the magic of the Internet. Members at that stage were sprinkled across the globe – Bird was living in New York (Brooklyn), Kellie Sutherland in San Francisco and Sam Perry in Brazil.
“For me, Moments Bend sounds distinctly Melbourne because so much of the experience of making and recoding the music was about being there. When I hear it, it very much feels like home,” Bird said.
“Writing songs and living in New York was very different to writing songs and living in Melbourne; you’re a different person experiencing different things over there.
“That part of my life was pretty manic and crazy. Brooklyn is a very inspiring but stressful place to live.”
Bird, who studied photography before “falling into music,” said the band was happy to be back together for the recording and enjoyed focusing on the physical making of the album.
“We really love to pour everything into each little aspect and sound and work over all the nuisances and ideas on the record. We wanted to do that more than ever because we had the time and luxury of having our own studio,” he said.
“We set out to make a pop album that had detail and depth of emotion but was still accessible and fun.”
After months of playing at several festivals including Groovin’ The Moo across Australia earlier this year, Bird said the group was “incredibly excited” to be playing at the small and intimate Astor Theatre.
“We’re really looking forward to coming back into venues and being able to reconnect with a captive audience rather than screaming out into a paddock,” he said.
“We’ve never played at the Astor before, but I’ve seen the venue and it’s in a great part of town.”
Architecture in Helsinki is at Astor Theatre, Mt Lawley, on August 27.