“It’s another chapter for us. I don’t really know how I look back on it yet. Every record is a snapshot of a moment in time. I had a very strong connection to it, like every record we’ve done, and I’m really proud of it,” he states. “If there was someone who has keenly followed our trajectory as a band, they would probably say we fell into the ‘do what we want’ category. We probably have very few people that like our first record as our fifth record, or had stayed with the band through that time. As a musician and as a populist, I do want to make music that pleases people, but at the same time, if I was doing the same record over and over again I would be hugely bored. For us, it’s always been as much about self-satisfaction more than anything. I think the fact that people have got into our records is a bonus at the end of the day,” Bird reasons.
“We have a genuine curiosity of new music and trying new things. I think the hard thing for a band, once you get past your second record, is trying to keep people interested and convinced that what you’re doing is still pushing things in a direction that’s not obvious. There’s always that element. Like any band will tell you, it’s maintaining relevance, and when you feel like you’re not relevant, it’s a hard thing when you’ve been in a band for several years and trying to keep on top of your game,” Bird says. “We grew up listening to pop music and still mostly listen to pop music. It’s definitely a dirty word still, people like to think they like pop music, but it still is tainted for a lot of people. We feel we’re truthfully, non-ironically, unashamedly into pop songwriting and pop production. We don’t feel embarrassed to make pop music. Obviously that’s going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, but there’s also people that are willing to get into what we get into.”
Having operated for well over 10 years, the commoditised notion of nostalgia becomes a lure for some of Architecture In Helsinki’s contemporaries, or even predecessors, though Bird resists any such temptation. “I’m really wary of nostalgia; it’s a really weird feeling. Even for us, when we go and play in America, where our first couple of records were so popular, so when we go and play there now we have kids coming up to us saying, ‘You were my favourite band when I was 14, but I couldn’t come see you play.’” It’s a little weird, he admits, and says has a keen drive to avoid becoming a legacy band. “I have no desire whatsoever to be in that position,” he says. “I feel like it’s a time and a place, and beyond that, the music takes on a life of its own. I have no interest in doing the winery tours or whatever comes next.”
Architecture In Helsinki’s appreciation for the pop form shares some foundational common ground with the nascent PC Music stable currently making waves from the UK, with artists such as SOPHIE crafting hyper-exaggerated interpretations of the form. “I have a bit of an awareness about what’s going on there. It’s interesting, drawing from those influences of Timbaland or Pharrell’s production 10 years ago, then thrown into a blender and turned up 20bpm. It’s an interesting time for music in general. It’s always evolving, but because of the accessibility of the technology, anyone can make it. People’s chops are getting so crazy, you hear kids who are 18 making music that’s as good as anything, that wouldn’t have happened without the climate being the way it is.”
As for what the next chapter of Architecture In Helsinki entails, Bird states they’re going to discuss about where they want to head next, hinting at a new record, “We won’t be touring our arses off, I think we’re pretty over that. I think for us, writing and producing is something we’re more into than touring.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
