Architecture In Helsinki @ Academy 3, Wednesday 13th April 2011

The intimate location of Manchester Academy 3 plays host to Architecture In Helsinki who drop in as part of a whistle-stop-trip around the UK in their current world tour.

The group hail from Melbourne, Australia, and brand themselves as modernist pop merchants who offer original, fastidious, light and soothing tones conveyed via decoders, hand claps, brass and synths. A broad spectrum of their work is on show tonight, including their newest album Moment Bends, which is very much a slick slice of vivacious electro-pop that pulls the band forward and a tad away from their jolly indie-pop routes. The construction of heavily synthetic, decoder-driven choruses, although slightly different from previous LPs Places Like This and In Case We Die, still holds dear their astute, spacey twinkles. Glimmers of 1980s electronic acts Soft Cell and The Human League can be heard in grand, atmospheric choruses like ‘Escapee’ and ‘Everything’s Blue’, in contrast to their rather bouncy, leisurely rhythm; a modern day twist on the genre.

Treats like Moment Bends’ single ‘That Beep’ have the crowd tapping their feet and nodding their heads in appreciation. As do the flowing, bouncy exuberance in tracks like ‘It’5!’ and ‘Yr Go To,’ and the soothing, passionate intricacies of ‘W.O.W.’.

Cameron Bird on vocals delivers clear and crisp tones and is supported by Kellie Barnes, who complements him well via a mesmerising high-pitched accompaniment. The group bow out with conviction and euphoria courtesy of Londonbeat’s ‘I’ve Been Thinking About You’, which sends a wave of excitement through the venue; a fitting conclusion to an upbeat set and animated, receptive audience. In fact, the maturity of their sound and their development as a band has seen an admirable progression since their formation in the late 1990s and this is glaringly apparent tonight, with their tamer, more brass driven roots being less evident.

On a sour note, while there are some great tracks on show, the energy in Architecture In Helsinki's songs isn’t matched by the musical expression and onstage vigour that you would expect to go hand-in-hand with this type of music. They often look a little static and lethargic. As the face of the band, vocalist Bird’s crowd interaction is minimal; looking quite humbled and passionate on the mic, his impressive falsetto is not mirrored by his stage work. By contrast, keyboard player Gus Franklin is the bright spark, absorbing much of the audience’s glare; his rhythmic dancing and colourful expressionisms could and perhaps should be shared by his companions.

Grumbles aside, this is a fresh performance from an experienced band on top of their game at the moment; more than a moderate acclaim in an age of vast indie-pop group disintegration after one good album. What Architecture do is deliver a sheer brand of glee and jingle-jangly fairground playfulness that surprisingly has a wider appeal than to teddy bear loving children.

What they do they do very well, but you wonder whether if they are to progress any further then they must cast aside the playful happy school prom band sound and move forwards to begin a new chapter. After 10 years, Architecture In Helsinki looks very different from humble beginnings as art students from Melbourne, but maturity is shining through and they are taking positive steps in their musical journey.

Words & Images: Brendan McFadden

Peter Broderick @ Academy 3, Tuesday 19th October

If you’ve been to a show recently, you’ll have experienced that many of your fellow gig-goers will feel the need to chat throughout a band’s set. Not at a Peter Broderick show. Tonight the audience stands expectant and silent, almost frightened to breathe, gazing in awe at the stage; home this evening to the Oregon-born multi-instrumentalist. An immensely talented individual, the 23 year old’s extensive back catalogue boasts multiple solo releases, collaborations and scores for ballet and dance, which he somehow fits in between touring duties with Danish band Efterklang.


His quiet but confident manner dictates proceedings, as he casually swaps between a cappella vocals, guitar, piano, violin and even a bowed saw. Performing pieces from his Bella Union releases, ‘How They Are’ and ‘Home’ showcases his evident talent as a singer-songwriter, delicately executing picked guitar melodies complimented by warm and soothing vocal lines. ‘With A Key’ revives memories of Sam Amidon, but it’s ‘Below It’ and ‘And It’s Alright’ that are standout crowd favourites.


However Broderick’s appeal isn’t simply limited to his singing-songwriting abilities, the intelligent use of loop pedal adds to the intricacies and beauty of the performance, and the standalone neo-classical piano suites almost make you feel like you should be sat in a concert hall. The audience marvel as wondrous swathes of sound wash around the room, it’s hard to comprehend how one man can be so engaging. To finish, a sound-check tested experiment with support act Takimono caps off an evening of musical wonder, as Broderick strums a simple folk song backed by Takimono’s manipulated delicate echoing piano riffs. A pleasure to witness such talent, musicianship and beauty.

Words & Images: Simon Bray

Black Mountain @ Academy 3, Wednesday 15th September

What do you call something that hangs around with musicians?

No, I don’t mean the one about the drummer. For a start Josh Wells’ thumping time-keeping merits not one iota of derision.

Instead I’m talking about the classic set-staller that is: ‘technical difficulties’. Fortunately Canadian quintet Black Mountain aren’t stricken too badly by Matt Camirand’s bass amp malfunction and, after a few mutterings about it having been a long year, we’re away.

Straight into a couple from the third record, including title track ‘Wilderness Heart’, and the immediate wonder is how a band whose sophomore effort In The Future was a 2008 Polaris Music Prize finalist, behind Caribou's Andorra, are only attracting enough punters to mostly fill the Academy 3 venue.


It is that second album that dominates a typically cohesive set. ‘Angels’ and ‘Wucan’ welcome a smattering of nodding heads, before ‘Tyrants’ fully brings to light Jeremy Schmidt, who bears a passing resemblance to his contemporary keys controller in fellow drone rock merchants Dungen, and his Moogs. They shimmer and soothe in cosmic layers as a bass addled synchronicity is supplemented by persistent guitar noodlings, courtesy of Stephen McBean, who would surely be a contender for the proposed Beards of Manchester charity calendar, if he were a resident.

The instrumental break also sees singer Amber Webber adopting the moody musician look – borderline disinterested, or perhaps just zoning out of the real world; her mind on a similar sonic excursion to the audience’s; remaining inanimate as her bandmates act as tour guides in a psychedelic trip.


An oft-conjured image is one of euphoric escape down an ongoing dusty highway; plains either side until you reach a steep cliff-face. You know, the Butch Cassidy type of scene. But, after taking a mellow country fried turn akin to Jefferson Airplane and then finishing with the psyche-tinged classic rock of ‘Stormy High’ and ‘Don’t Run Our Hearts Around’, the encore shapes up as more of a sci-fi soundtrack. The quarter of an hour long ‘Bright Lights’ constructs, to my mind, an intergalactic exploration: anticipation, lift-off, touchdown, standoff encounter, then eye-opening discovery.

However you envisage it, this is music to take you to another place.

Words & Pictures: Ian Pennington

Review: Magnetic Fields / Manchester Cathedral & Thee Silver Mt. Zion / Academy 3

A weekend of gigs, a weekend of music. Let's do this chronologically and start with the Magnetic Fields, whose extended set at Manchester Cathedral on Friday night included highlights from throughout their near 20 year career.

This was a pitch-perfect evening rendered all the more glorious (and, at times ironic: "I want to be a dominatrix / which isn't like me, but I can dream / learn S, and M, / and all those gay tricks / and men will pay me to / make them scream" - The Nun's Litany) by the austere yet intensely atmospheric interior of the cathedral. Consider also, that Magnetic Fields, and particularly Stephin Merritt, revel in sexual ambiguity and only the blackest humour, and the incongruity between venue and artist becomes all the more pleasing.

Singing over his band's paired-down yet beautiful musical backdrop of acoustic guitar, cello, mandola, basic percussion and occassional piano, Merrit's incredibly deep voice resonated and bombinated whilst the man himself retained his trademark cool, laconic delivery, his artful words depositing little droppings of humour and insight throughout the audience, causing occassional chuckles, uproarious laughter and quiet whispers of appreciation.

The band themselves were entirely faultless for the duration of the performance; my only minor gripe is reserved for the sound, which was perhaps a little on the quiet side. This may be a result of Merritt's well-documented hearing condition, or perhaps the sound-engineers decided to rely more on the cathedral's natural acoustics than electronic amplification, however as people began to move around the band began to look more like a sideshow than a main event.


Thee Silver Mt. Zion

Someone, someone like me, with little knowledge of Thee Silver Mt. Zion's recorded output since their debut He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… would be forgiven for thinking that, as a live prospect, there was a strong possibility that Efrim Menuck's Godspeed side project (and now main project, or so it would seem) would be a meditative, restrained affair - perhaps even a little dull.


That someone would be sorely mistaken: Silver Mt. Zion began their set by blasting through parts one and two of 'I Built Myself a Metal Bird I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds', an incredible punk tune that kicks off with a bristling, distorted violin riff and sustains an exhilirating pace, climaxing with Efrim screaming "Dance Motherfucker!" - not what I was expecting.

Elsewhere we were treated to dark squalls of distortion and deep dual violin riffs, all topped off by Menuck's odd singing voice, which falls somewhere between mockney punk and half-cracked indie whining, but just about stays the right side of 'god, that's annoying'.

Menuck's on-stage persona (or perhaps it's really him?) was equally pleasing, and surprising, as he flitted wildly between the kind of apocalyptic anti-capitalist rants last heard in the background of a Godspeed album and the assertion that the band carried Bono around in a box, letting him out only to piss and shit. Heckling was invited, positively encouraged as it says on the band's website, and the Manchester crowd didn't hold back - a personal favourite of mine was when, after another 15 minute opus ground to a halt, some bright spark shouted "Is the next one gonna be a short one?"

Well, it was funny at the time anyway.

Words: James Roome
Images: Magnetic Fields image courtesy of alterna2 on Flickr / Silver Mt. Zion Image courtesy of: joshtrix on Flickr