Australia's Architecture in Helsinki will play the Rialto Theatre for the first time Friday.
It just wasn't supposed to be that way.
Originally for this tour, the quirky six-piece planned to perform two shows back-to-back at local art gallery and music venue Solar Culture. After some safety concerns about the place were raised recently, the show was moved to the Rialto, resulting in a one-night-only scenario.
"We're bummed, because (Solar Culture) is our favorite venue in the country," said singer and multi-instrumentalist Cameron Bird, 28. "There's that train behind you and you're in this crazy art gallery with all this freaky hippie art."
Architecture in Helsinki creates unbridled, multi-vocaled pop flavored with multitudes of genres — from Carribean beat, to synthy new wave, to jam without the jamming, to dance folk.
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The band this year released its third full-length album, "Places Like This," a collection of 11 more-hit-than-miss pop songs that, when executed correctly ("Like It Ar Not," "Heart It Races"), get stuck on repeat in your head.
Architecture's music truly lives live, when the energetic members play without a set list and often switch instruments. So on one tune the bassist will suddenly play the drums, and on the next he'll be front and center singing.
"It keeps it interesting for us," Bird said. "When you see us play for the first time, it's kind of strange."
At the time they named the band after the building design in the capital of Finland, the members of Architecture in Helsinki had never actually seen the city's structural work.
Besides liking how the three words sounded together, the band's name was meant to represent something that was foreign, distant and unknown to its members.
All the mystery ended this summer, when the group traveled to Helsinki for a tour stop. "The buildings were pretty good," Bird said.
Yet, as wonderful an impression as Helsinki made on the band, its heart rests in Tucson. At a recent show in Tempe for the Southern Comfort Music Experience, the band name-checked the Old Pueblo in a song.
Bird struggled to define what it is about Tucson that appeals so much.
"Something about it," Bird said. "It's just got amazing energy. And the setting is incredible. And the people there are always so friendly."
If you go
• What: Architecture in Helsinki with Glass Candy.
• When: 8 p.m. Friday.
• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
• Cost: $16 in advance, $17 day of show. All ages.
• Et cetera: Hear it at myspace.com/ aihmusic.
