#23: In Case We Die

Architecture in Helsinki: In Case We Die.
Seeing a band live when you like them, but don't love them, can be a real deal-breaker. Such is the case with my Architecture in Helsinki experience. After seeing them live, I'm convinced that they know how to rock and are destined for some sort of goofy greatness.

They aren't there just yet. They make a challenging brand of pop music that has the occasional grating section, but with more than enough moments of brilliance and exuberance to make up for the misses. Like the band at #22, with their extremely large contingent of players, the possibilities of what AiH can do intrigue me the most.

In Case We Die is first and foremost a pop record, complete with singles like "It'5!," "Wishbone," and "Maybe You Can Owe Me." But it feels like a cohesive pop opera, a gingerbread-house saturday-morning-cartoon musical. I can't recommend In Case We Die for everyone, but this mess of a record, by a whole mess of crazy Aussies, has grown on me like a fungus. A psychedelic multi-colored mushroom, perhaps.