It’s amazing that Architecture in Helsinki doesn’t have an exclamation point at the end of their name. With albums that genre-hop at hyperactive speeds, they bang and blow on instruments that sound like Fisher-Price toys, making them seem like the exact type of band that would tack on an arbitrary “!” But, while restraint has never been their thing, excellent taste has — a point that becomes even more evident with their new five-song EP. The gurgled “wha wha whas” of opener ‘Like It or Not (Version 2)’ pan into a Sesame Street singalong. Three-fourths of the way in, the resounding chorus simmers into a calypso breakdown — a moment of rest before more ecstatic yelping. While the ‘Version 2’ re-working sounds almost exactly like the original from last year’s Places Like This, it’s rehashed into an unrecognizable psychedelic romp at the EP’s conclusion by El Guincho. Sandwiched between the two remixes are three tracks riddled with so many bouncy synths and childlike melodies that it’s almost… too much to handle? Not unless you hate being happy.
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