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After playing Irving Plaza summer dates, Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki will be “returning” to New York for two fall dates: October 11 at The Gramercy Theatre and October 12 at Studio B (most members seem to have settled down as Brooklyn residents anyway). La Blogotheque recently teamed up with the band for another accidental occupation of apartments in Paris, this time even borrowing electricity from one kitchen. On a previous occasion it was members of Holland’s Alamo Race Track performing from small balconies of a Parisian building. They, too, will be playing New York: this Thursday, August 2nd, as part of the showcase series hosted by NME at the Annex.

Download “Northern Territory” (from Black Cat John Brown)

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Photos and report from my lovely roommate, Lorelei:

Architecture in Helsinki had a full house – a full, mad house – of frenzied fans at the Irving Plaza on Friday night. The primordial feel of their latest single was pre-empted – before the band even appeared onstage – by the bellowing of witchdoctor weekenders* in the front row. So everyone seemed well and truly tribal by the time the boom dah-dee dah-dee dah dee boom of ‘Heart It Races’ emerged as if from a swamp that had been a thousand years in the making.

More after the jump.

But in fact, it’s only been two years since Architecture in Helsinki’s last release (In Case We Die, 2005). In that time, the band has truly evolved into a completely new creature. The absence of former members Isobel Knowles and Tara Shackell has gutted the horn section, and without their sweet voices beefing things up (not a contradiction in the slightest), a few songs sound anorexic to my ears. But there is still the frenetic stage activity, the sharing and swapping of instruments that turns their live show into a fascinating science, and the excitement of new songs mingled with the utter genius of old songs (such as “Maybe You Can Owe Me”) that sends a shiver through your own prehistoric bones and makes you believe that evolution will work magnificently for Architecture in Helsinki, just as it has for so many other species.

Places Like This, Architecture in Helsinki’s latest album, is released in August.

[*sarahana's note: she means what's commonly referred to as "bridge and tunnel"]

Tags: architecture in helsinki

Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki has signed to Polyvinyl Records for the North American release of its upcoming album, Places Like This, scheduled for August 7. In the meantime, single “Heart It Races” will come out on a 12″, in addition to CD and digital format, on June 5.

Pictures from last year’s Central Park show

Tracklist, single art and tour dates as follows; regrettably YACHT is not playing the NY date at Irving Plaza with them:

Places Like This tracklist:
1.Red Turned White
2.Heart It Races
3.Hold Music
4.Feather in a Baseball Cap
5.Underwater
6.Like It Or Not
7.Debbie
8.Lazy (Lazy)
9.Nothing’s Wrong
10.Same Old Innocence

Heart It Races cover

Dates

06/07/07 Cambridge, MA – Middle East
06/08/07 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
06/09/07 Philadelphia PA – Starlight
06/10/07 Washington, D.C. – 9:30 Club
06/11/07 Chicago, IL – Logan Square Auditorium
06/13/07 Seattle, WA, – Neumo’s #
06/14/07 Vancouver, BC – Richards on Richards #
06/15/07 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom #
06/16/07 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s 365 Club #
06/18/07 Pomona, CA – Glasshouse #
06/19/07 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theatre *

* = w/ Gang Gang Dance, Ariel Pink

# = w/ YACHT

Cameron Bird said he lived above a laundromat in New York City this summer, which resulted in a song they played tonight that was inspired by the heat.

Sam Perry

Sam Perry and Cameron Bird
Kellie Sutherland

Kellie Sutherland

Jamie Mildren and Kellie Sutherland

Kellie Sutherland

James Cecil and Jamie Mildren

Gus Franklin

Gus Franklin

Cameron Bird