''Fingers Crossed'' is the debut 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 DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band Architecture in Helsinki, which was released on 9 February 2003 by independent record label

Trifekta Trifekta is the name of a now defunct Australia based independent record label, based in Fitzroy, Victoria. It was started in 1997 by Tom Larnach-Jones (Shock Records), Tim Everest and Paul 'Presser' Towner (Gerling). The first release for t ...

. It is known especially for its gentle, high-pitched

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and an ambitiously wide array of musical instruments, many unconventional and prominent. The instruments used include

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

, woodwinds,

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, four different kinds of

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, tuba,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, 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 vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, melodica, thumb piano,

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, and various

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

and percussion including hand claps, finger snaps, and the taps of tap shoes. It also uses a variety of voices, mainly in gender and age. In 2007, "Souvenirs" received attention for its use in a Sprint Nextel commercial.,You Ain't No Picasso noting of commercial use of AiH
, ''youaintnopicasso.com'', retrieved 2-25-08 and in 2009 excerpts from the song were used in a popular commercial for

Fanta Fanta is an American-owned German brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are more than 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as ...

in the United Kingdom.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Heather Phares felt the album showed a "very appealing collage of electronic and indie pop." Dan of BigYawn initially "had some trouble deciding whether or not I really enjoyed the debut album" but ultimately declared "The songs are catchy enough, and their unique instrumentation and feel for textured sounds show great promise." Jenny Yuen of ''Prefix Mag'' noted " tshould be categorized as a kids' soundtrack. It captures innocence at its best moments by using a ridiculous number of instruments (thirty-one, to be exact) that could keep a marching band happy, all of which makes up fourteen very shiny and happy songs." However, ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

''s Akiva Gottlieb " oundtheir puerile, psychologically regressive child's play boring and self-absorbed".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Architecture in Helsinki albums