Architecture in Helsinki’s Jamie Mildren

What with all the chaos and cruelty in the world (if you don’t believe us, ask animals), sometimes what you need from music isn’t martial drum loops or muscular guitar licks; it’s gentleness, lightness of touch and imagination. Thank your lucky stars, then, for the mesmerizing miniature rhapsodies of Australia’s most exciting purveyors of magical indie pop, Architecture in Helsinki.

Sounding like a mad inventor’s splicing of Arcade Fire, Fiery Furnaces, and vintage Beach Boys, the eight-person troop that is AIH is currently gaining momentum both in their native Australia and overseas, where critics and fans alike have been going doolally over their wondrous, whirling, largely-under-three-minute melodic masterpieces. But what, you may ask, is the icing on this particularly inviting little vegan cake? Well, we’ll tell you: Jamie Mildren, one of the group’s founding members and possessor of possibly the most exhilarating beard in musical history, is a devoted vegetarian and keen defender of animals. So much so, in fact, that he took time during the band’s recent sell-out tour of the UK to answer a few of peta2’s questions. Read on, friends, for yet more proof that – as a famous songwriter once wrote – there are angels in the architecture.

What are you up to right now with the band?
We have just finished a two-month tour round the USA, the UK, Europe and Malaysia, have come home and played a couple of festivals and are now taking a very well-deserved break from each other. We’ve played more than 100 shows this year.

When did you go vegetarian?
Pretty much as soon as I moved out of home seven or eight years ago. I was forced to learn to cook and for some time had said to myself that when I got off my lazy arse I’d become veggie.

What do you think it will take to make more people consider going vegetarian? What have you found to be a motivator for yourself?
Well, with the current climate of new food-borne diseases emerging through inhumane farming techniques, I think it’s only a matter of time before everyone makes the change. My big motivator is my love for cooking.

What’s it like being veg in Australia?
In Melbourne, it’s really great. There are a lot of Asian, Italian and Turkish/Middle Eastern restaurants and grocery stores. There are also a lot of organic grocers and markets and veggie restaurants and cafés.

PETA has been campaigning over the past year against two cruel practices within the Australian wool industry – “mulesing”, in which strips of skin and flesh are cut from lambs’ hindquarters with shears, and live export, which forces sheep to endure a nightmarish transport that would not be acceptable under Australian animal welfare legislation. What do you, as an Australian, think of these practices?
There are many issues in Australia that I disagree with, and these are two of them.

Why do you believe it is important to treat animals humanely?
They, too, are conscious, living beings, and importance should not be placed upon some (i.e., domestic pets) and not others.

Did you ever have a companion animal in your life? If so, what was his/her name, and can you share with us a good memory of him/her?
Between the ages of 10 and 16, my family had a corgi-cross-Labrador called Monty who was totally obsessed with playing ball and would drop it from his mouth and nudge it to you with his nose. It was very cute.

What music are you excited about right now? Any listening tips for the kids at peta2?
Keep your ears open to all kinds of music; don’t restrict yourself in what you listen to. As for what I’ve been loving of late: Animal Collective, Moondog, Ennio Morricone’s psych compilations, Dr Dog, Still Flyin’, the reissued Ethiopiques series compilations, Jaylib and Madvillain, Takagi Masakatsu, Robert Lippock and Barbra Morgenstern, Cedric “Im” Brooks and The Avalanches.

So there you have it – the way forward: open ears, an open heart and an open mind. Now we just have to open the pens and cages. Why not head on over and watch our “Free Me” video, and then show it to all your meat-eating friends to see if you can open their eyes?