Pitchfork

At one point eight members strong, peppy Australian outfit Architecture in Helsinki has been reduced, for the moment, to a quintet following the departure of multi-instrumentalist James Cecil.

Cecil joined the band early in its life and played on all three AIH full-lengths to date: Fingers Crossed, In Case We Die, and Places Like This. It was announced that Cecil would be leaving the band during a New Year's Eve performance in their native Melbourne; AIH's publicist later confirmed the departure.

Many thanks to reader Phil Jones for the tip.

According to their website, Architecture in Helsinki are presently taking a "big fat well earned summer vacation" (it's summer Down Under right now, recall), but an October live session recently surfaced on the Daytrotter website, and the band appeared on the sixth episode of Nigel Godrich's "From the Basement" television program. Said episode aired on the UK telly earlier this month and hits U.S. screens on the Rave HD network March 28.