INTERVIEW BY ROSS HATTON

On the back of their European Tour we sat down with front-man of ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, Cameron Bird to talk about the new album, touring and their upcoming W.A shows.

In the late 90’s founding father of Architecture In Helsinki, Cameron Bird began performing in Albury, New South Wales alongside fellow AIH members, Jamie Mildren and Sam Perry. Rockin’ out as a teenage funk-grunge band under the off kilter name, The Pixel Mittens the trio ended up moving to Melbourne in search of bigger and better things. After playing a few shows the group decided to take an extended hiatus and in Bird’s case – to study at Art school where he met and had an instant musical connection with former member James Cecil. Around the same time Cecil jumped on drums Bird met Kellie Sutherland at a party and invited her to bust out some clarinet on some of their songs. After an extended holiday interruption in the U.S, Bird came back re-energized and wrote 3 quarters of their debut albums songs in 6 days. It was clear from their first album, Architecture In Helsinki was a pop force to be reckoned with – and not much has changed.

Now, onto their fourth album, ‘Moment Bends’ Bird explains to us just how much time and effort really went in to making this record.

I understand that this album was a 2 and a half year labour of love. How does it feel now that it’s finally out on the streets?

“It’s a big relief, we finished it in September last year so there was a big gap between when it was finished and when it came out which is always frustrating. But we’re very excited for people to hear the record. We’re really proud of it.”

“You always put the pressure on yourself because you want each album you make to be better than the last, whether it be stronger or you do things you didn’t do before. I mean I’d be lying if I said we didn’t put that on ourselves but at the same time we really didn’t want to rush and we wanted to make sure everything was how it was suppose to be. So in taking as long as we did it meant that we made a record that we didn’t have to be worried about.” Bird explains.

Brimming with excitement and positive energy I was curious to know exactly where ‘Moment Bends” ranked on Bird’s list of already successful AIH albums. It also gave me the chance to find out what not only fans thought of the record but also Birds peers and family.

“I think everyone’s been pretty universally into the record. We don’t really pay much attention to reviews or press in that respect so I mean the feedback that we get from our friends and family and from fans has been really awesome – and that’s what we take on board. This is the record I’m most definitely proud of and I know it’s pretty predictable for bands to say that about each record when they’re promoting it. But it’s kind of the record we’ve been trying to make the last couple of records and the reason we took so long is because we wanted to make sure that we fully realised that. It was something we didn’t have to make excuses about and had everything exactly how we wanted it, and we’ve never done that before.”

The record itself is one of the most ambient and intricate arrays of electronic swirls you’ll ever here on a pop record. Production and sound has played a big part in making, ‘Moment Bends’ as unique as it is and as Bird explains, it didn’t come quite as easy as it may sound.

“I think in the past we’ve probably been a little more naive or spontaneous or loose in the way that we put together our songs but I mean part of it was we co-produced it with Frank Tetaz and our live engineer. They had a lot of influence and impact on the way that the songs came together. We got to focus a lot more on the ideas and the songs themselves and those guys kind of coloured in bits around.”

Contact High is seriously catchy and a bit of a stand out on the record. How did the song come about?

“It was the second song we recorded on the record it was sort of right at the start of the process. It was finished about a year and a half ago so it’s been around for a really long time for us. I don’t like to write songs and then take them to the studio. I like to write songs in the studio because I think we’re very much into that kind of production and ideas and for me the writing, the production and the ideas are all one thing. So I don’t like to separate them. It’s kind of usually a case of choose your own adventure we’re we’ll be like ok we’ve just got that section and then we’d find another section and stick that on there. Sort of a little puzzle piece really.”

“We definitely feel like it’s important to be open to the idea of being a little bit loose with stuff. But I think on that song it was definitely a bit of an experiment with us trying to create our version of the perfect pop song in a way. Getting every little detail exactly how we wanted it. I don’t think we’ve ever had a song that we’ve been that anal about than we did with that song.”

Record creation aside, playing live and recruiting new fans is one of the best parts about releasing a new record. Fresh from trawling around Europe and finally landing back in Oz a couple of weeks ago, Bird gives us the low-down and his thoughts on what goes on, on the road.

“We’ve spent a couple of years working on the songs so I guess this is the time when we can take them out and test it to the world which is probably the most exciting part of making music for us.”

What’s it like playing to somewhere like Denmark or France compared to Australian audiences?

“A lot of those places we’re a lot less known than here so there’s an element of having to prove yourself, which is cool we really thrive on that. So usually the first few songs of the set people are just checking us out and by the end of it they’re totally loving it.” He laughs.

But it must be good to be back home playing for Aussie fans?

“Yeah it’s been really awesome the last few weekends doing Groovin’ The Moo festivals and that’s been really amazing, the crowds have been just berserk so we’ve been really loving it.”

Having only been to W.A a handful of times in the last few years, Bird goes on to tell us just what he thinks of Perth and what’s to come for the upcoming W.A leg.

So are you looking forward to coming to W.A for a couple of shows?

“Yeah we’re super excited, especially for Perth. It’s the first Australian club show we’ve played since the start of 2008 and the first time we’ve played a club show in Perth since December 2007, so it’s a really long time for us since we’ve played a proper show there – other than festival shows. We love playing in Perth and being there so yeah it’s going to be a fun weekend.” Bird assures us.

So considering that, what can Perth fans expect from you guys when you hit Capitol this weekend?

“Well hopefully a decent mix of old and new songs but obviously we’re going to focus on the new stuff. We’re just trying to work out what songs we’re playing at the moment so I don’t think I can quite answer that other than to say there will be a lot of songs that we will be playing for the first time in Australia which will be cool. You guys will get to see the first version!”

If you’d like to check out Architecture In Helsinki’s Moment Bends live debut, be sure to get down to Capitol in Northbridge this Sunday.

ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI  ‘MOMENT BENDS’ W.A SHOWS 2011
14 May – Groovin’ The Moo, Bunbury, WA
15 May – The Capitol, Perth, WA

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