Architecture In Helsinki @ Avalon, NYC 5/18/06

1:54 PM EDT on May 25, 2006

There's no dearth of indie bands catering to the ADD set these days. Finding one that can write cohesive pop tunes through the genre jumping, multi-instrumental schtick is what's rare.

AiH is the best in schized out, electronic twee-pop ... the Ritalin of indie rock. These Aussies look as motley as they sound: a crazy assortment of evening dresses, dreadlocks, skimpy Adidas track shorts, and baseball caps. The crew swaps glockenspiels for tubas, sample pads for recorders, and drums for guitars. If your ears can't find candy at an Architecture show, then your eyes will.

Avalon's stage was packed with twenty or thirty instruments, eight musicians, and a prom-skipping high school couple doing the waltz. The show opened with the sprawling "Nevereverdid," starting with haunting horns and vocals, moving through goofy half-time pop, and building to twitchy group chants over an increasingly frantic krautrockish outro. That's pretty much the kitchen sink right there, and it could've be a massive jumble live. But it was perfect.

The group of high schoolers that had forgone their prom for the show were hilarious. "One day, John Hughes is gonna make a movie about tonight - about your night!" lead vocalist Cameron Bird predicted. Later he brought a couple on stage to dance to the warm melody of "Maybe You Could Owe Me."They loved it. After satisfying a massive "Whirl-wind" chant with the giddy lo-fi blips of "Do The Whirlwind" -- and flowing confetti and smiles -- it was curfew time.

Post-show the crowd got an invitation to get down to Cake Shop for some extended revelry. Hoping for an AiH secret set, we swung down to the bar on Ludlow St. Instead of another performance, we played another round of indie rock stawker, this time featuring Little Stevie Van Zandt, and Alec Ounsworth doing the chicken dance with the AiH kids. David Byrne made it to the show too, but he left after talking to the band at Avalon. It all kind of made us believe 'em when they said "we just have the best time playing in New York."

In store for Architecture? More touring, then into the studio to record the follow-up to last year's amazing In Case We Die. If the tunes are anything like "Derby" or the other newbies we heard, it's gonna be great. The lesson for you kids out there: skip your prom, grab some Ritalin, go see Architecture in Helsinki.

SETLIST