''In Case We Die'' is the second studio album by Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band

Architecture in Helsinki Architecture in Helsinki was an Australian indie pop band which consisted of Cameron Bird, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland. Before its hiatus, the band released five studio albums: '' Fingers Crossed'' (2003), '' ...

which was released on 5 April 2005. It was produced by band members James Cecil and Cameron Bird under their other moniker, The Carbohydrates. ''In Case We Die'' appeared on the

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

Top 100. At the

J Award of 2005 J, or j, is the tenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon vari ...

, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2005 In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger ...

, the album received three nominations Best Independent Release, Best Cover Art and Best Adult Contemporary Album.

Background

In 2005, Australian band,

, issued their second album ''In Case We Die'' on their own

Tailem Bend Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina (South Australia), Lake Al ...

label (distributed by Inertia Records). The ensemble consisted of eight members: Cameron Bird on

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

; James Cecil on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

, guitars, keyboards; Gus Franklin on

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, horns, guitar, backing vocals and drums; Isobel Knowles on

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

, horns, vocals; Jamie Mildren on instrumentation, guitar,

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, keyboards,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

, and

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

; Sam Perry on

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, vocals, bass guitar, drums, keyboards; Tara Shackell on instrumentation,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

, trombone, keyboards; and Kellie Sutherland on

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

, melodica, horns, vocals, keyboards. It featured guest appearances by local musicians and was produced by The Carbohydrates (Cecil and Bird's production duo) in Cecil's Super Melody World studio, which was set up in a large garage space in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs. It was mixed by Tony Espie (The Avalanches, New Buffalo, Robert Palmer), at 001 Studios in Melbourne. ''

Cyclic Defrost ''Cyclic Defrost'' is an Australian specialist electronic music magazine. It was founded and edited by Sebastian Chan, with current editors Bob Baker Fish, Chris Downton and Peter Hollo. It covers independent electronic music, avant-rock, experi ...

s Vaughan Healey described a typical gig as "a bewildering ride through dynamic tempo changes, finger clicks and swapped instruments. You never really know who is going to sing or what will happen next, and somehow the eight-piece juggles this anarchic structure with a music class worth of instruments and staging rearrangements."

Reception

''In Case We Die'' appeared on the

Top 100. At the

, the album received three nominations: 'Best Independent Release', 'Best Cover Art' (by Bird) and 'Best Adult Contemporary Release'. The song "It'5!" (pronounced "it's five") received airplay on the national radio network

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

and was listed No. 56 in their Hottest 100 for 2005. The album received generally favourable reviews according to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

website's rating of 72 out of 100 based on reviews by 26 professional critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Heather Phares found the music was "much more assured" than their debut album, '' Fingers Crossed'' (2003), with "lots of parts and changes to them" but it "never feels ponderous" containing "vibrant, irresistible, Technicolor music". ''

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, ...

'' writer S. Kobak was unsure "whether Architecture in Helsinki is for real or an ironic parody of the post-Arcade Fire indie rock scene" as " he albumsounds like a cross between ''Off the Wall''-era Michael Jackson without the soul, the Banana Splits, the ''Grease'' soundtrack and shitty disco records". Laurence Station at ShakingThrough.net noted the group "progresses dramatically in ambition and proficiency" and likened their style to a "Jackson Pollock drip painting, chaotic and bustling" with "swirling, colorful melodic kaleidoscope works. Rhythmic continuity is so over".

Track listing

#"Neverevereverdid" – 4:49 #"It'5!" – 2:07 #"Tiny Paintings" – 3:03 #"Wishbone" – 2:26 #"Maybe You Can Owe Me" – 4:03 #"Do the Whirlwind" – 4:39 #"In Case We Die (Parts 1–4)" – 3:33 #"The Cemetery" – 2:02 #"Frenchy, I'm Faking" – 2:52 #"Need to Shout" – 4:10 #"Rendezvous:

Potrero Hill Potrero Hill is a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, California. It is known for being one of the sunniest neighborhoods in the city and having view of the skyline, Sutro Tower, Twin Peaks, and the bay. A working-class neighborhood unt ...

" – 1:52 #"What's in Store?" – 4:29 #"Bats and Rats and Murderers" – 1:25 (UK edition bonus track)

Release history

The track "Maybe You Can Owe Me" was used in the 2007 film ''

I Know Who Killed Me ''I Know Who Killed Me'' is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson, from a screenplay by Jeff Hammond. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, and Brian Geraghty. The film's story revolves ...

'', starring

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( ; born July 2, 1986) is an American actress, singer, producer, and businesswoman. Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lohan was signed to Ford Models at age three. She appeared as a regular on the soap opera ' ...

. "Do the Whirlwind" has an animated music video in a bizarre video game format.

Personnel

;Architecture in Helsinki members * Cameron Bird –

* James Cecil – drums, backing vocals, guitars, keyboards * Gus Franklin –

, horns, guitar,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Isobel Knowles –

, horns, vocals * Jamie Mildren – instrumentation, guitar,

, keyboards,

* Sam Perry –

, vocals, bass guitar, drums, keyboards * Tara Shackell – instrumentation,

, trombone, keyboards * Kellie Sutherland –

, melodica, horns, vocals, keyboards

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2005 albums Architecture in Helsinki albums