Hey
Rosetta! hails from the rocky and cold northeastern province of Newfoundland
& Labrador. In 2005, Tim Baker arrived home from a road trip with a
suitcase full of poems and melodies. Hey Rosetta! was formed soon after with
the addition of a string section (cellist Romesh Thavanathan and violinist
Kinley Dowling) and rhythm section (bassist Josh Ward, drummer Phil Maloney and
guitarist Adam Hogan). Since then, they’ve blossomed into a powerful group
whose explosive live shows have earned them a devoted following.
The
band’s new album, Seeds, was produced by Tony Doogan (Belle and Sebastian,
Mogwai, Wintersleep). Seeds, available February 15th,
reveals a maturing lyrical depth and an atmosphere rooted to the band’s passion
for epic musical experiences.
It
was while recording 2008’s breakthrough album Into Your Lungs (and around
in your heart and on through your blood) that Tim Baker began to fully
realize his remarkable vocal and lyrical abilities, and the band made a huge
creative leap forward. They spent
nearly three years on the road, touring in support of Into Your Lungs and were named one of Billboard's Top 5 Canadian acts
to watch. The album garnered a
slew of awards and critical accolades, and was shortlisted for the renowned
Polaris Music Prize.
It
was while touring Into Your Lungs …
Hey
Rosetta! hails from the rocky and cold northeastern province of Newfoundland
& Labrador. In 2005, Tim Baker arrived home from a road trip with a
suitcase full of poems and melodies. Hey Rosetta! was formed soon after with
the addition of a string section (cellist Romesh Thavanathan and violinist
Kinley Dowling) and rhythm section (bassist Josh Ward, drummer Phil Maloney and
guitarist Adam Hogan). Since then, they’ve blossomed into a powerful group
whose explosive live shows have earned them a devoted following.
The
band’s new album, Seeds, was produced by Tony Doogan (Belle and Sebastian,
Mogwai, Wintersleep). Seeds, available February 15th,
reveals a maturing lyrical depth and an atmosphere rooted to the band’s passion
for epic musical experiences.
It
was while recording 2008’s breakthrough album Into Your Lungs (and around
in your heart and on through your blood) that Tim Baker began to fully
realize his remarkable vocal and lyrical abilities, and the band made a huge
creative leap forward. They spent
nearly three years on the road, touring in support of Into Your Lungs and were named one of Billboard's Top 5 Canadian acts
to watch. The album garnered a
slew of awards and critical accolades, and was shortlisted for the renowned
Polaris Music Prize.
It
was while touring Into Your Lungs that the concept of Seeds was born. “The title
track, “Seeds”, came about while out on the highway a few years ago,” muses
Baker. “In a way, it's about what
our lives had become, and how we’re like seeds that float around into different
fields and cities, bringing something and trying to build something for the
people that come to see us.”
The
group spent time developing the sonic landscapes found on Seeds while maintaining a
very full tour schedule that took them to Australia, China, Europe, the US and
on numerous tours of Canada (including a tour of the Northwest Territories and
Nunavut). The band holed up in Newfoundland to work on the songs before
traveling to Halifax, NS to record with Tony Doogan at The Sonic Temple (where
they had tracked Into Your Lungs).
“Tony
was really incredible at getting all the sounds and tones we'd dreamt up. He’s
an amazing engineer and for all his Scottish bluster and pop-rock dogma, he is
very sensitive, patient, and a gifted producer,” says Baker (who wrote all of
the songs except “Downstairs”, “Young Glass”, and “Seeds” which he co-wrote
with guitarist Adam Hogan).
Thematically,
Seeds touches on themes ranging from depression to procreation. “Young
Glass” was written after reading J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey. Baker explains: “It’s
sort of directed at the novel’s main character, Franny. It describes a sleepwalking scene that
didn't actually occur in the book, but one that I imagined. We spent a lot of
time flying and sleeping on planes
and in airports, and I was always finding myself in half-waking states,
feeling, as one does, all alone somewhere between dream and reality. When I’d
wake up, I was always surrounded by people going about their business. I like
that; a sort of evidence that even when we think we are completely alone, we
are not. So I wrote Franny, a character who is plagued by such thoughts, a song
about it… but it's really about everyone.”
Not
surprisingly, a few of the songs on Seeds were inspired by the
band’s itinerant lifestyle. Baker offers further reflection on the album’s
title track: “Appropriately, it’s about the power of the road trip; escape,
rebirth through movement…and the rare moments of escape and empowerment you get
while highwaying yourself from town to town.”
“Seventeen”
takes its title from “the never-ending, wild, woody highway 17 that runs across
northern Ontario,” but ultimately, the lyrics reveal something much more
personal: “It's a song about being
between childhood and adulthood, between the east and west coasts of the
country, and just being caught between things in general…but it's not really a
song of despair. It's also about being at a crossroads, not missing the past or
stressing about the future, just being present, in the in-between, and the
freedom of that.”
Hope
is another of the album’s recurring themes: the first single “Welcome” was
written for some close friends of Baker’s who were about to become parents. “I
wrote a song for the little soon-to-be, who is now an 18 month old girl named
Madeleine; healthy and beautiful, just like her parents. I was just sitting
with them, talking to the unborn baby in a sort of cynical, joking way. You
know, like ‘stay in there as long as you can, kid. Sorry, but it's a mess out
here...’ and so on. Later, alone, I was thinking about what it means to bring
new life into the world: how it's sort of sad, but also so hopeful and kind of
religious.”
The
album closes on a sweetly optimistic note, with “Bandages” reminding us that
even when things seem hopeless, “the winter always ends.”
