Hey Rosetta! brought an unique flair to the Lincoln Hall last Friday when they stopped through Chicago on tour with Canadian compatriots Hot Hot Heat and UK’s 22-20s as a single date on their U.S. tour. Hey Rosetta! charmed crowds with a versatile set of indie-pop styled songs and hopefully piqued the curiosity of some new fans here in the States.
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Hey Rosetta!
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Lincoln Hall
Chicago, IL
September 10, 2010
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The source of Hey Rosetta!’s blend of eclectic folk and mainstream pop sound is tough to pin down. During songs like “We Made A Pact” and the epic tune “There’s An Arc” you can hear the comparisons to Jeff Buckley, but it’s not a complete emulation—more like a conscious act of paying homage. The band’s instrumentation consists of a four-piece rock band accompanied by a cello and violinist with vocalist Tim Baker switching from rhythm guitar to piano during a small selection of songs. They have the presence of a rock band with all the subtle nuance of a smaller and less loud act providing them with a wider range of musical possibilities than a standard band would have. Perhaps it’s Baker’s sense of poetic lyrics or the semi-classical band set-up and composition or maybe it’s just a unique form of hometown solidarity that contributes to their dynamic sound. The band’s Newfoundland hometown of St. Johns, Canada has very little in the form of a musical legacy to offer, which might add to their flying under the indie scene’s watchful eye in the States.
In fact, while listening to Hey Rosetta! one begins to wonder why they aren’t already a household name in indie circles. Baker’s songwriting borrows styles mainstream and nuanced, classical and current. It’s hard to track their subtle transition from solo singer-songwriter sensibilities to string-inspired majesty to balls-out ballading, albeit, Baker’s keyboard songs do teeter towards more a post-modern piano-bar aesthetic—and, although it sounds it, that isn’t meant as a veiled insult. Hey Rosetta! has a little thing called accessibility—which can be interpreted quite few different ways, but the most significant one being their wide-ranging marketability. Their accessibility matched with the personal cue of Baker’s songwriting pair to create rocking singer-songwriter ditties that enchant songs with an epic quality.
In Canada, Hey Rosetta! has had no problem making a stir with numerous television appearances, commercial spots and even a musical spot during the closing montage for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Cup, a feat the band owes to a well-known Canadian sports journalist and Newfoundland native, Stephen Brunt.
The mystery remains in how little Americans have paid attention to Hey Rosetta!. Their debut album Plan Your Escape released in 2007 and in 2008 they released their sophomore album Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood). This is their second tour (their first in the U.S.), and they’ve only scratched at the surface of people who’ll enjoy their Canadian aloofness here in the States. Hey Rosetta! will be opening for Hot Hot Heat clear into the middle of fall ending their tour in their homeland, Canada.
It’s purely conjecture but had Hey Rosetta! made their start in a city more known for its own music scene in the States, it’s hard to say if they’d still be as known (or unknown) as they are now.
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un courageux anonyme
Written by Guest on 2010-09-25 20:20:04
For a person who has no idea about St. John's, and has never been there, you certainly throw a lot of generalizations around about it. St. John's is densely populated with music and rich in the arts, and its culture is distinct from anywhere else in Canada, let alone North America. While Hey Rosetta! are a product of St. John's, and a well-crafted one, you'd be a fool to believe that it is an artistic wasteland. "A1C is the downtown St. John's postal code, where it's believed there is the largest concentration of artists per capita than any other postal code in Canada." |
Retrohs Emawk
Written by Guest on 2010-11-20 08:24:41
If you didn't like the title, then you should have just came out and said it. |
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