By DCist contributor Graham Hough-Cornwell

The pseudo sub-genre of schizo-pop that the Fiery Furnaces made well-publicized if not so much well-liked culminated – at least for this reviewer – with Architecture in Helsinki’s second full-length album, In Case We Die. To call the two groups similar perhaps isn’t fair; their most basic common aesthetic is a lack of one in particular. But for my money, Architecture are the more playful of the two, their shouts and tambourine claps more genuine in the atmosphere of an eight piece collective.

So it was with great excitement that I ventured to the Black Cat on Monday night to catch their set. The Blow, a one-woman iBook and bedroom pop act from Portland, opened up. In the spirit of Architecture in Helsinki’s affection for childlike innocence and kindness, if I can’t say anything nice about the Blow, I just won’t say anything at all.

Architecture came on a half hour later and began with a brand new song and a slightly new direction. New material dominated the set and most of it was driven by Latin beats – pounded out simultaneously on drum machines, bongos, and the main kit – heavy on both the funk and the synths. There was some very promising material: “Nothing’s Wrong” demonstrated that while the band might be back taking their Ritalin, they haven’t lost their ability to write catchy but delicate tunes. And “How the Races” picks up right where lead single “Do the Whirlwind” left off, a bass-throbbing shuffle that got the crowd moving.