IN REVIEW: Hey Rosetta! - "Second Sight"

There's a telling lyrical passage that stuck out to me upon listening to Newfoundland-based indie stalwarts Hey Rosetta's third full-length LP. During the uplifting, depression-battling anthem Cathedral Bells, singer Tim Baker exclaims, "the road is lit and I'm going home". It comes near the tail end of the album's most thrilling section of songs, during which the seven-piece (plus additional hands on deck for extra orchestration) take a formidable musical journey through several genres and moods. After exploring the arena-sized farthest reaches of Coldplay, the worldly rhythms of Vampire Weekend and the zealous, choral flourishes of Arcade Fire among others, it's the comfort of home that drives the group down the album's (pun intended, I suppose) home stretch.

Long before we get to that point, however, we're treated to some of the band's most interesting material to date. The album starts with current single Soft Offering (for the Oft Suffering) and runs through some massively appealing melodies, culminating in the earworm-inducing, supersized Dream. What follows is a slower, more introspective pair of tracks in What Arrows and Promise; they're not bad songs, but they do kill the momentum with their tempos and tendencies to drag on just a bit (they're a shade under twelve minutes combined).

Thankfully, the album's midsection finds Hey Rosetta! at their most adventurous, bombastic and lively; the groovy, methodical Kid Gloves, the fiery and percussive Neon Beyond, the nimble and enticing Kintsukuroi and the aforementioned Cathedral Bells run the gamut in seventeen minutes, laying bare all of this incredibly talented group's strengths. It also sets the table for even more thrills in the slow burning dirge turned hopeful ballad Alcaltraz, the soulful kitchen party atmosphere of Harriet (which contains the album's biggest payoff), and the hymnal, heartbreaking requiem Trish's Song.

As musically restless as Second Sight tends to be, it also feels like a natural progression for a band that's already shown plenty of willingness to experiment. If they continue to remind predominantly of the three other bands I've already mentioned previously, they're to be commended for only gleaning the positive elements of those bands' influences. It may sound like Coldplay, Vampire Weekend or Arcade Fire, but it's Coldplay without the inflated sense of importance, Vampire Weekend without the forced book smarts, and Arcade Fire without the heavy-handed pretensions. It's the earnestness and honesty that make Second Sight, and Hey Rosetta!, so easy to root for; this album is the sound of a band that, for all the national adulation they've received (two Polaris nominations and, if the quality of this record is any indication, counting), and for all the global-minded inspirations that creep into their core sound, they still haven't forgotten where they came from.

October 21, 2014 • Sonic/Warner

Highlights Soft Offering (for the Oft Suffering) • Cathedral Bells • Harriet

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2014: And the Winners Are...

It's been a long year, and another great one for rock n' roll. While the pop charts were overrun with barely legals obsessed with their asses, rock soldiered on undeterred even as pundits (hell, in some cases even rockers themselves) mourned the genre. Sure, rock didn't dominate the money game in 2014, but that shouldn't evoke sad nostalgia and eulogies. Even for as little perceived impact rock music made, a hell of a lot happened if people had only paid attention. From grizzled vets adding jewels to their crown (Springsteen, Petty) to new beginnings (Against Me!, Antemasque) to happy returns (Faith No More, The Tea Party) and all points in between, rock continued to thrive, evolve and thrill in 2014. Enough talk. It's winning time. Your Year in Rock winners for 2014 are...

Headstones Are Getting It Right. And By "It", I Mean "Everything".

When Headstones announced they were finally getting together for a new record (a decade since they'd released one, as the band drifted apart and Hugh Dillon's acting career began to pay dividends), they did so by letting their fans get in on the ground floor. Headstones got self-promotion right. They started accepting pledges toward the funding of the new record on October 19th at their official Pledge Music site , with pledge items ranging from $10 (digital download of album) and $5,000 (a private Headstones unplugged show for you and your friends). Within a day, they'd reached 90% of their goal; as of this writing, they sit at 283% reached. Headstones got funding right. With a planned release date of March 26 looming, something happened. They messed around and got a record deal after a subsidiary of Universal Music (who had originally signed the band back in '92) loved what they heard, and wanted to release it worldwide. The logistics of these things tend to...

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