Architecture In Helsinki - seriously happy

Cameron Bird can't hide his amusement (or should that be bemusement) at the parallels being drawn between his own Architecture In Helsinki and a certain Montreal-based pop ensemble. "Nowhere in the world except UK and Europe do we get Arcade Fire comparisons. If someone said that about us in Australia people would just laugh and say that we were trying to 'big' ourselves. I think it was some PR person who wrote that in our bio and it just snowballed from there. People feel the need to have labels and pigeonholes. I guess it just helps people in general who don't know about that kind of music or have an opinion of music. If I'm being cynical, you could say it just makes consumption easier."

Despite this tacit admission that such pigeonholing may be a necessary evil, Bird has ensured it's practically impossible to do so in the case of the ensemble he founded in Melbourne in the late nineties. Currently a six-piece, they employ such a diverse range of instruments (tuba, trumpet, with synthesisers and glockenspiels, guitar and drums, cowbells and handclaps) and vocal styles that 'miscellaneous' is about the best anyone can do. Of course, this doesn't bother their expanding legion of fans, who now include among their ranks one recent Skinny interviewee, Bruce Willis, who recently dubbed them one of his favourites. 'Nuff said!

Indeed, if there is a defining characteristic amongst the mishmash of genres, it is an overriding sense of fun. Ironically, Bird seems to take his duty to frivolity rather seriously, concerned that his assiduous craftsmanship won't be viewed favourably as a consequence. "Throughout history there are probably loads of records people didn't take seriously because they were fun. If you were to read the top 100 albums you would probably find that three of them were not serious works. I don't know if it's an insecurity thing or what, but for some reason if you're kind of positive in your themes or the way you present yourself people just call it childish or something. It's funny, in many ways we're as serious as a lot of bands, I guess it's just that our music is totally positive."

The soon to be released Places Like This is Architecture In Helsinki's third full album. Bird took the unusual step of isolating himself from the rest of the band by moving to New York whilst the rest of the band remained back in Australia. Instrumentation, vocals and lyrics were all relayed back and forth via the internet: "It was a creative experiment, trying to write while being separated. It was tough at times but totally invigorating; at first everyone was kind of pissed off and confused and like 'What the hell? How are we going to write the album?' but it was a great aspect of relief when it came together how we wanted it."

Bird admits this was his way of dealing with the difficulties which must inevitably arise when so many performers, with all their inherent opinions and attitudes, collude. "That was the great thing about recording and the way that we did this album. It kind of, in a way, eliminated egos because you weren't in the same room playing together, you weren't kind of nervous about your part and coming up with parts. You got to contribute your part on your own time. I think that was really positive, all the ideas are much more involved and clear."