SoundSalvationArmy

It’s surprising we don’t see more massive, mainstream cross-over success with indie artists. You’d think with über-successful bands Coldplay and Kings of Leon that rely entirely on their ability to synthesize something an arm’s length from real emotion, so carefully ensconced in sounding earnest that nonsense lyrics can seem like cathartic epiphanies, more bands that actually take the time to actually BE earnest and mean what they say would eventually take hold.

But perhaps Hey Rosetta! is making their way down that road. The Newfoundland/Labrador six-piece saw a surge of success the last couple of years thanks to their second record, Into Your Lungs, which was released in summer 2008. While cynics might hear a record draped in pretension the highly-orchestral arrangements and drawn-out song lengths are evidence of a remarkably well-realized intent and vision. Singer Tim Baker’s impassioned vocals provide the anchor for the music, his sincerity and passion weaving its way through every note.

That being said it should be interesting to see what happens next for Hey Rosetta!, given that they’re releasing a brand new album next week that focuses and tightens up their sound while bringing in new elements.

Opening track “Seeds” is a manifesto for the album, with singer Tim Baker intoning, “We don’t look back/because we don’t need that.” Maybe not the most poetic statement but it does prove prescient, as Hey Rosetta! endeavor to move past the pervasive quit-build-loud dynamic that marked most songs on their first full-length. Eschewing slower build-ups, most of the songs on Seeds waste no time, heading straight into a full-band arrangement. There are also more straightforward rock and roll passages to be found.

I say passages because these songs are constantly in flux. The arrangements on the record are definitely next level, morphing from one phase to the next, songs ending up with a totally different palate of sounds than they began with. The transitions are far from jarring, but consider a song like single, “Welcome.” Baker’s ode to a friend’s newborn baby might be the catchiest song on the album, exploding right from the start with a pretty standard four-piece rock band sound, adding some strings to the chorus that follow the instrumental melody. Half-way through the entire arrangement drops out, reduced to Baker and some sparse guitar picking. Swirling strings make a return, carrying the bridge to the 2:55 mark when the distorted rock guitar comes back full force, soaring to new heights through the end of the song.

That’s the band’s stock in trade, the kind of dramatic number that is their bread and butter. “Yer Fall” follows in the same vein, opening with solo piano, adding drums and falsetto vocals, transitioning into a brief string interlude before moving back to the piano and drums and building into something approaching a frenzy in order to explode into one of the album’s biggest choruses. Baker sings at the top of his lungs alongside distorted electric rock guitar, the strings, drums, piano, all colliding into each other before dropping into a brief, quiet coda. Or take “Young Glass,” which adds and/or takes away a new instrument every 45 seconds or so, bringing them all back for a climactic finish at the song’s conclusion.

But while Hey Rosetta!’s fans seem to take great pleasure in the highly orchestral, jam-packed song formations, one of the most enjoyable moments on the album is it’s closing track, “Bandages.” Primarily just Baker and his acoustic guitar, it’s one of the most straight-forward, simple numbers here. Ghostly atmospheric sounds provide a wider canvas of sound for the first four minutes or so, before some march-worthy drums, tambourine, glock, and a raft of backing vocalists waft in and out of the last minute to augment the gorgeous vocal melody. It shows that for all their bells and whistles the core of each Hey Rosetta! tune is a solid, beautiful melody that would stand on its own regardless of how many kitchen sinks were thrown into the mix.

Baker is also set on relating a true, real human experience to his listeners through his lyrics. Be that by penning a song with real-world advice to the aforementioned baby (”I’m sorry this is it/it’s cold and hard and badly lit/and there’s no backing out of it/so forget where you’ve been/it’ll never be that good again/and we must only look ahead/soon you’re 33 and everything you tried to be/is pulled apart by fear and grief/but young hands build you up”) or in “Young Glass”’s reassurance that even if when you feel alone there’s an entire world all around you waiting to be explored (inspired, as The Broken Speaker tells us, by a J.D. Salinger book).

On the whole the record is somewhat shorter and perhaps considerably more concise than its predecessor, the shorter songs coming in briefly enough that they’ll set up well as singles in the coming months. It’s an intense listen that requires active listening if you really want to get the full scope of it.

Fans of earnest rock and roll may have just found their new bellwether.

 

 Hey Rosetta! - Yer Spring: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Hey Rosetta! - Young Glass: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You’ll find Seeds available in all forms (pre-order so far) through the Hey Rosetta! website. Older CDs are also in there, I think.

Pat entries 2011, Canadian content, epic rock, Hey Rosetta!, indie rock, orchestral rock, rock