Music Video for Architecture in Helsinki's 'Escapee'
Directed by Marcus Soderlund
Produced by Jules de Chateleux
Taken from the 2011 album 'Moment Bends'
Taken from the 2011 album 'Moment Bends'
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My First Impressions
by R.E.Slater
When first watching the music video Escapee by Architecture in Helsinki I only heard light-hearted beats and saw a young boy in the joys of peddling a bright red bicycle with bouncing blue balloons tied to its frame flying behind him in the jet streams of his joyous ride. Right then I new I was in for a metaphorical ride as the video cut and panned between two different adult figures intermixed with the band itself as our tour guide. Was I listening to the heartbeats of first love by a young man rethinking his first experiences (adult 1) or to an older adult (adult 2) weighed down with the inner turmoil of lost dreams unrealized and undiscovered much later in life? Or perhaps watching the first really awakening dreams of childhood's youthful promise that could fill the constellations of heaven above with its own weightless joys and spirited gladness? Or even a deposed life succumbed to the ravages of earth-bound realities believing age and maturity to have shredded childhood's distant hopes and beliefs? Someone who was destined no longer to ride the brighter boyhood dreams of youth but the lonely mechanistic backstreets and forgotten alleyways of unhappy griefs and dooms forever lost and forlorn in the decorum of societal norms?
I then wondered, "Is it so simple a thing to escape from this world's dark clutches of unbelief that would bind us forever in its darker beliefs of uncertainty?" Or can music, love, faith and a reconstitution that comes from God re-capture, and re-vitalize, our darkened lives with magical bikes and flying balloons. Nifty blue parkas and boyish haircuts. Or even the indescribable joys of riding the old, familiar passageways with a newer outlook on life? That refuses to sit in the metaphysical chairs of dismay and disappointment but would rise up to discover again the bright red bicycles of our childhood fantasies... yet this time bound within the surer bonds of God's love and embrace. Not the delusions of our own strength, or life's bleakness, nor even a darker world's many vaunted vanities and overwhelming temptations! A space where we might learn again to ride the fair streets of childhood as we once had been created to ride by our Creator God - especially with gay blue balloons flying behind our boundless imaginations! And with gladdened hearts released to the realities of promise in faith's majesty found only in a Creator's heart and soul as He had once made us to be and experience!
Here then is the inescapable reality of life's enigmas and mysteries that God loves us and in that love we will find our creative being and purpose as we become escapees from this life's heartbreaks and disillusionments. So then, break off the chains and locks of unbelief, and release that metaphorically-redemptive bike onto the back streets where we first discovered to ride from beneath heaven's home and across life's steely skies to vividly burn with faith's living hopes of unhesitating belief in personal renewal grounded in the God of our boundless reality!
R.E. Slater
August 7, 2011
Architecture in Helsinki - Escapee
Escapee Lyrics
Architecture in Helsinki - Escapee
Escapee Lyrics
This escapee was never gonna stay
On the unfamiliar building on the rooftop
Where we laid right off
Constellation shined and paved the way
Constellation shined and paved the way
Temptation's not a word
Until we've let it go astray
And I want to lead it
And I want to lead it
He want to lead it
Whoa, ho, ho
Like old tower over you all day
Like old tower over you all day
All darkness can be difficult like needles in the hay
I need to flick the switch and show you how to hide
And love is not the answer if you're takin' me for a ride
For a ride
This escapee was never gonna stay
For a ride
This escapee was never gonna stay
On the night it'd be too typical to be stuck in a day
And while the competition's overcome what may
Temptation's not a word until we've let it go astray
I want to leave it
I want to leave it
He want to lead it
Whoa, ho, ho
Unescaping, you're escaping
Unescaping
Unescaping, you're escaping
Unescaping
You're takin' me for a ride
For a ride
Unescaping, you're escaping
For a ride
For a ride
Unescaping, you're escaping
For a ride
Unescaping, you're escaping
Unescaping, you're escaping
Send "Escapee" Ringtone to your Cell
Send "Escapee" Ringtone to your CellMore About the Band
Musica Reviews
REVIEW 1
http://www.thevine.com.au/music/clip-reviews/architecture-in-helsinki's-'escapee'-and-'moment-bends'-track-by-track-_-watch20110612.aspx
by Marcus, on Jun 12 2011
Architecture in Helsinki's second single from their most recent pop slab Moment Bends, comes in the form of album track No. 2 'Escapee'. Filmed in Belgium, the clip was directed by Marcus Soderlund (The xx, Mike Snow) and features the band performing in damp suburbia, as a backdrop to a father/son tale involving forbidden bicycle riding, blue balloons and sweet parkas.
MILANO ACOUSTICS: Architecture in Helsinki - Escapee
The band have also just released a mini-EPK type thing for Moment Bends. It consists of three band members—Cameron Bird, Kellie Sutherland and Gus Franklin—staring down the barrel and riffing on various word games connected to each track from their new album. Non sequiturs such as "it's as if I'm asleep on a raft floating across a river towards a glowing power station" and "a non space where magic and perfect moments can happen" litter proceedings, along with small visual hiccups and quirks. Meaning, it's good—if you're a fan. Or just really like sky blue.REVIEW 2
http://www.eatingthebeats.com/2011/06/drinking-tunes-summer-beer-music/
On their recent LP Moment Bends, Architecture in Helsinki shed some of their super-twee roots in favor of pure dance-pop — and it’s a great fit. “Escapee” is perfect for a summer party, with lyrics about looking at constellations on a rooftop, getting out the dark, and escaping.
On their recent LP Moment Bends, Architecture in Helsinki shed some of their super-twee roots in favor of pure dance-pop — and it’s a great fit. “Escapee” is perfect for a summer party, with lyrics about looking at constellations on a rooftop, getting out the dark, and escaping.
REVIEW 3
http://www.inanabsolutworld.pedestrian.tv/pop-culture/news/watch-architecture-in-helsinki-escapee/44381.htm
Architecture In Helsinki's insightful track-by-track breakdown of Moment Bends calls this "the Nescafe Blend 43 moment on the record. We just added water and there was an instant buzz.". Tasty. Frontman Cameron Bird also associates this track with dolphins. Sadly no water mammals appear in the song's Marcus Soderlund directed video but we'll always settle for hazy bike rides with popular culture's most romanticized escapee not named Andy Dufresne, the adolescent runaway. Pedal til you legs fall off little man.REVIEW 4
ESCAPEE This was the Nescafe Blend 43 moment on the record. We just added water and there was an instant buzz. Sometimes songs happen in 10 minutes like some sort of crazy chemical reaction, 'Escapee' was as instantaneous and un-complicated as songs happen in our our world. Probably why it still makes me feel so good when I hear it! For some reason, every time I hear this it makes me think of dolphins.
REVIEW 5
Melbourne natives Architecture In Helsinki released their fourth album Moment Bends in April, and is already being talked about as one of the best modern pop albums of the year. Recorded over a two year period, Moment Bends is in large part “A dialogue with the dance floor, without being a slave to any particular rhythm.” The just released video for their song “Escapee” (directed by Marcus Soderlund, who has recently been creating great videos for The xx, Miike Snow, and jj) is a toe-tapping, fun track that the band says “was as instantaneous and un-complicated as songs happen in our world. Probably while it makes us feel so good when we hear it!” It’s makes us feel pretty good too. Enjoy!
REVIEW 6
A lot went into writing your favorite song--but how much do you really know about it? This week Cameron Bird and Kellie Sutherland of Architecture in Helsinki delve into hidden vocals, pesky guitar solos, and first-time key changes in their new song, "Contact High." (Check out Eric Grandy's take on the song here ).
Song: Contact High
From album: Moment Bends
Release date: May 2011
When it was written: January 2010
Where it was written: In our studio, Buckingham Palace
Why it was written: Is this a trick question?
Favorite line in the song: There is a hidden backing vocal that rips off Mutt Lange/Shania Twain in the last chorus.
Which part was the hardest to come up with? Getting the right flow in guitar solos are always difficult!
If you could go back and change anything, what would it be? Nothing. We spent a month on it in the studio so we wouldn't have any regrets.
Odd fact about song: It's the first-ever key change in an AIH song
What inspired the song: The magic of the natural universe
The overall meaning of the song: The chemistry between two brand-new lovers
REVIEW 7
Short Biography
Currently in the midst of a massive tour encompassing the USA, Russia, Europe and the UK, modernist pop quintet Architecture in Helsinki are thrilled to announce their most extensive Australian tour in years. After stunning crowds on the Groovin' The Moo tour and a brief run of headline dates in May, including a dazzling show at the Opera House as part of Vivid, AIH will be trekking across Australia over August and September.
The band's second single Escapee has just been released from their pop opus ‘Moment Bends', accompanied by a beautiful video directed by Marcus Soderlund (The XX, Miike Snow) in Belgium. As effortless and infectious as a pop song can be, Escapee was the last track written and recorded during the albums' two year gestation. Frontman Cameron Bird says, "Sometimes songs happen in 10 minutes like some sort of crazy chemical reaction, 'Escapee' was as instantaneous and un-complicated as songs happen in our world. Probably why it still makes me feel so good when I hear it!".
Supported by triple j and Channel [V], the tour will see the band hitting up most capital cities, along with rare performancesin Cairns, Wollongong, and Newcastle. Don't miss this chance to see why the world's falling in love with ‘Moment Bends' and Architecture in Helsinki's transcendently joyous live shows.
In-depth Biography
The Australian indie pop ensemble Architecture in Helsinki hail from Fitzroy, Melbourne, and have counted multi-instrumentalists Cameron Bird, James Cecil, Gus Franklin, Isobel Knowles, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, Tara Shackell, and Kellie Sutherland among their ranks. The band's musical arsenal is even bigger than its roster, featuring instruments as diverse as analog synths and samplers, glockenspiel, tuba, clarinet, and recorder along with the more predictable drums, bass, and guitar. Architecture in Helsinki began playing in 2000, crafting a mix of indie, electronic, and pop that they recorded and occasionally performed live. The collective began recording its debut album, Fingers Crossed, in 2002 in a variety of places ranging from beach houses to proper studios; Bar/None released the album in spring 2004. Following a hectic year of touring and recording, the group turned around another album, In Case We Die, in 2005. The release drew glowing reviews, fixing Architecture in Helsinki as one of that year's most promising and idiosyncratic indie acts. Frontman and primary songwriter Bird relocated to Brooklyn a year later, where he and producer James Cecil put the finishing touches on the group's third effort, Places Like This. The album was released on Polyvinyl in 2007. Bird returned to Australia and the group, now a quintet including Perry, Mildren, Sutherland, and Franklin, released the That Beep single in 2008. They recorded their fourth album in their studio, Buckingham Palace, over the course of two years. The result was Moment Bends, which was released in early 2011. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi
REVIEW 8
http://lamusicblog.com/2011/06/video/architecture-in-helsinki-release-video-for-escapee/
by Kristin Houser, on June 2nd, 2011
Category: Video
Architecture in Helsinki’s music perfectly suits my dancing style (I flatter myself to think there is any “style” to my dancing, but that’s beside the point). Not too fast, not too fancy, just perfectly infectious melodies over beats that keep my feet moving without knocking me off them. “Escapee,” the third single from the band’s 2011 release Moment Bends, is perfectly in keeping with this trend, and the video for the track, which features a red bike, blue balloons, and some understated ’80s-influenced outfits and hairstyles, is pretty awesome too.