Architecture In Helsinki’s Track By Track Breakdown Of Moment Bends

Things you might not know about Architecture In Helsinki’s fourth studio LP, Moment Bends. Frontman Cameron Bird really wants a chopped and screwed remix of album closer “B4 3D” (so if you know anyone…). “Contact High” was always going to be the album’s centerpiece. Track one features a pan pipe player they saw at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets. The band’s first attempt at a power ballad “wrung every last bit of heart and chops” out of them and one track started as a “pseudo-sleazy Russian philharmonic meets Bryan Ferry thing”. Want more? Read on as Bird offers a track by track breakdown of album four, explains why he road tests songs in cinemas and finds the “gateway to some pretty deep philosophical thinking.”

1) DESERT ISLAND
Desert Island is AIH does Australiana. It’s all about feeling isolated in a place that’s already isolated by geographic default and using every last bit of of imagination to paint yourself in a place better than your reality. We got in touch with a pan pipe player that we saw play at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Markets to put the icing on the cake that is this jam.

2) ESCAPEE
This was the Nescafe Blend 43 moment on the record. We just added water and there was an instant buzz. Sometimes songs happen in 10 minutes like some sort of crazy chemical reaction, ‘Escapee’ was as instantaneous and un-complicated as songs happen in our our world. Probably why it still makes me feel so good when I hear it! For some reason, every time I hear this it makes me think of dolphins…

3) CONTACT HIGH
From the start ‘Contact High’ was the centrepiece of the record. We wanted to have a little overture of all the flavours on ‘Moment Bends’ to happen within the 3:40. So, yes, without wanting to give away too much of the mystique, we spent a REALLY long time perfecting it. Every little twist and turn and shimmering sound was pure TLC.

4) W.O.W
Kellie has always been secretly obsessed with Susanna Hoffs from The Bangles. So, I wanted to imagine that I was writing in the spirit of ‘Manic Monday’. I knew that would mean that it was right for Kellie’s voice. 200 odd plays later, it still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. It has an intimacy and directness that feels as though you are hearing something that you’re not supposed to.

5) YR GO TO
Sometimes in the studio it’s nice to close your eyes and pretend that you’re someone or somewhere else. With ‘Yr Go To’, we wanted to feel like we were collaborating with ABBA in 1977 and maybe Jeff Lynne was making coffee for us in the studio…I guess that’s the key to having that element of fantasy and opulence to the sound, really getting into character. Character in an absurd sense rather than getting all retrogressive.

6) SLEEPTALKIN
This was our first ever attempt at what would traditionally be called a power ballad. Kinda hope that if there is ever a sequel to the series, ‘Soft Metal: It Ain’t Hard’, that ‘Sleeptalkin” might be able to feature. In all seriousness, this wrung every last bit of heart and chops out of us. Franc (Tetaz, our co-producer) would tell you that this was by far the hardest track to mix and produce on the record, There was such a delicate balance of elements going on to make it come to life. When we were mixing, the hypothetical image that we kept coming back to was watching the sunset from a rooftop pool in Dubai.

7) I KNOW DEEP DOWN
I have a lot of routines and superstitions when we finish tracks in the studio. I either take them out on the freeway or onto headphones whilst watching films at the cinema. It’s all about road-testing them as fantasy vs reality.
Do they make you re-imagine the world around you? Did they incite laughter or tears or psychedelic visions. Was the music really effecting you on a deep level? This was the last song we made on ‘Moment Bends’ and it was kind of about that process and that feeling of coming to the end of something and that being both terrifying and exciting.

8) THAT BEEP
We wrote ‘That Beep’ in the winter of 2008 at the start of the whole album writing process. I was living in Prahran in my studio which was a shot tower, 3 stories high, each level was 3m x 3m. I remember a day when all of us were crammed into this 3×3 room full of synths and drum machines, cranking this on the P.A. for the first time. It was super exciting. This will always sound like the dawn of a new AIH era to me!

9) DENIAL STYLE
The intention with Denial Style was to make a song that was equal parts production piece and a sequel / companion to ‘That Beep’. There is so many nerdy studio tweaked versions of this song floating about with different vibes. In the end we wanted to make something that would feel like a Jammy-Schoolyard-meets-Compass-Point kinda flav.
It was also super important that it sounded as good on a huge P.A that in would in a HI-Fi showroom.

10) EVERYTHING’S BLUE
Everything’s Blue started out as a pseudo-sleazy Russian philharmonic meets Bryan Ferry thing and morphed into something a lot more involved. A lot of the themes on this record deal with some sort of apocalypse (we are obsessed with 2012), be that universal or personal. Everything’s Blue acted as a gateway to some pretty deep philosophical thinking. And a lot of that ended up being brought on by how epic the instrumentation had become. It was kind of like we were overcome by the power of the music coming out of the speakers. Wild times.

11) B4 3D
This was always the song to get lost in. A world unto itself. It was the record closer from the minute it was penned.
To be honest, we would love to make a record where every song was as EMO as this and maybe someday we will.
Last week my next door neighbour played ‘B4 3D’ on his stereo 6 times in a row at full blast. It’s that kinda song.
PS – I am hoping that someone makes a Chopped ‘n Screwed version (yes, that is an open invitation).

AUSTRALIAN HEADLINE SHOW
Sunday May 15 – The Capitol, Perth WA
Thursday May 26 – Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne VIC
Friday May 27 – Hi-Fi Bar, Brisbane QLD
Sunday May 29 – VIVID Sydney, NSW

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