QUIRKY can be a cool characteristic, for a bit.
But be warned, when quirky goes wrong, it becomes very irritating, very quickly. The constant attempt to be different, to be original, to say black is white and white is black is soon no longer quirky but annoying.
Luckily for me, I’m still enjoying the ‘cool’ quirky stage with Architecture In Helsinki, one of the world’s quirkiest bands right now. Crazy Scandinavians, I hear you cry, incorrectly. The band are from Australia.
How will this eight piece, squeeze onto stage at the Dublin Castle in Parkway, Camden Town, early next month? Everybody’s going to have to breathe in.
And finally, as you might have guessed already, they make a quirky noise – thumping drumkits, spitting through harmonicas and generating spooky high pitch vocals which will either make you smile or run for cover.
During the most quirky moments, the vocals sound like they have been taken straight from a farm or yelps from a school playground.
None of these facts really give you a clue as to what AIH sound like but then most reviewers are going to fail when trying to pin down such a manic collage of sounds.
The promoters at the Dublin have compared AIH to The Flaming Lips, which isn’t the worst stab at placing them in the sound-a-like game. I can’t do much better. Whatever genre these guys are trying to play, Grooves gives AIH the thumbs up, although this quirky bunch will always run the risk of seeing their quirky mission turn quirky tedious.
All the info is at www.architectureinhelsinki.com.
If you want your band featured in Grooves’ oh-so popular DotW column, then send your promo into Richard Osley, 40 Camden Road, Camden Town, NW1 9DR. Email rosley@camdennewjournal.co.uk.