Architecture In Helsinki

Overview

Coming up with a solid indie-pop band name used to just be a case of slapping a "The" in front of a noun, but now some seem so nonsensical they could only have been generated by inserting a keyword into www.bandnamemaker.com. Architecture In Helsinki's band name, despite sounding like a very successful Internet-generated band name (we got "Helsinki Custard" and "Cursed Helsinki And The Monosyllabic Ennui" amongst other disasters), is actually very fitting. These guys have been doing modernist indie-pop since the turn of the century, and they're not trying to reinvent the wheel any more than Finland's unconsciously cool capital itself.

Architecture In Helsinki (the band) is unadulterated bubbly electro-pop that still manages to appear fresher than a blast of Finnish winter air. Since their early days producing a sound as endearingly mish-mash as architecture in Helsinki (the city) they've dropped a few horns and acoustics along with a few band members. The result is a soundscape equally kaleidoscopic but far more polished.

On 1 September, they'll be supported by New Zealand indie power-pop group Cut Off Your Hands, who's own name implies classic Kiwi sarcasm rather than anything morbid.