Hey Rosetta!
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Hey Rosetta!

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada | INDIE | AFM

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada | INDIE | AFM
Band Alternative Pop

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Press


"XM Radio words"

“Hey Rosetta! bring something new to the table not heard in a long time. They have been a "diamond in the rough" discovery here at XM"
-Jeff Leake, XM Satellite Radio
- XM Satellite Radio


"Tina Simpkin likes us!"

"Hey Rosetta! are one of those unique bands that have taken over the indie scene. Their sound blends orchestral strings, soaring guitars and beautiful pianos to a dramatic summit. A band to watch!"
-Tina Simpkin, Gibson Guitar and Baldwin Piano Corp
- Gibson Guitar and Baldwin Piano Corp.


"Stuart Maclean Rules!"

"The most riveting performances, however, came from Hey Rosetta! This alternative group, fronted by the charismatic and gifted Tim Baker, is destined for greatness, if they just keep on doing that thing they do."
-Stuart McLean CBC's Vinyl Cafe
- CBC Radio


"Chart Attack"

"Newfoundland's Hey Rosetta!, have established themselves as one of the most exciting indie rock bands to come out of Newfoundland ever."
Chart Attack Online
- Chart Attack Online


"Hey Rosetta!"

"Into Your Lungs gives fans what they want: an album full of energetic, well-written, wonderful songs."

"For an album by a relatively large band with a huge range of instruments and sonorities, Into Your Lungs is unbelievably well-balanced and crisp."



Hey Rosetta
Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood)
2008

By Jake Shenker

Writing a great song is an art. I don’t mean coming up with a catchy melody and a beat that gets your foot tappin’; I’m talking about a song with depth, a song with lyrics that make you think and feel, that evolves like a good movie, twisting and turning and taking you places you hadn’t imagined. And on Hey Rosetta!’s new record, Into Your Lungs (and Around in Your Heart and on Through Your Blood), singer-songwriter Tim Baker and company offer up an album full of great songs.

Into Your Lungs is Hey Rosetta!’s second full-length album, but it feels like a new start for the young Newfoundland band. Their first full-length, Plan Your Escape, was a compilation of new material and old songs from their previously released self-titled EP. Select songs from the record were later remixed and released as the Plan Your Escape EP, and while the EP was a breath of genius in today’s Indie music scene, its seven tracks left fans wanting much, much more.

Into Your Lungs gives fans what they want: an album full of energetic, well-written, wonderful songs.

But these aren’t your average verse-chorus-verse songs. Like the album’s long, parenthetical title, most tracks on Into Your Lungs begin in one place and follow a path through different sounds, instrumentations, and dynamics to reach their destination. “New Goodbye,” the opening track, begins quietly with a cautious acoustic guitar and Tim Baker’s intense voice. After a minute or so a lusciously strummed mandolin and the rest of the band join in, and an energetic electric guitar enters around the 3:30 mark. Each time a new sound enters, the song shifts in a new direction, much like plot twists or character development in a story. “Handshake the Gangster” has a similar dynamic, starting out as a slow piano-driven lament, and then smacking you in the face around 1:30 with a metric tonne of energy — a wonderful feeling that happens a whole lot on this record. And while this quiet beginning/energetic finish formula isn’t brand new, it has been perfectly implemented on Into Your Lungs.

If long songs aren’t your thing, don’t worry: the album has plenty of catchy verse-chorus-verse songs. “I’ve Been Asleep For a Long, Long Time,” “Red Heart,” and the danceable “A Thousand Suns” have all been stuck in my head on repeat since last week.

Unifying Into Your Lungs are Tim Baker’s smart, poetic lyrics and his uniquely emotive singing style. This combination is epitomized in the closing track, “Psalm,” with the chorus of “Under the night you can hear / The full moon rise like a psalm in the air / and the air goes into your lungs and around in your heart and on through your blood.” After hearing that line, the album title doesn’t seem so long anymore.

What is most impressive about this record is how perfect it sounds from a production perspective. For an album by a relatively large band with a huge range of instruments and sonorities, Into Your Lungs is unbelievably well-balanced and crisp. The band probably has producer Hawksley Workman — a national treasure — to thank for that. Hawksley has a remarkable ear for detail and is as meticulous a producer as he is a songwriter.

Into Your Lungs is the sound of one of the best young bands in Canada coming into their own. The songs are mature and brave, the sound distinctly fresh, and the energy level at an unparalleled high. Tracks that you absolutely can’t miss include “Holy Shit (What a Relief),” “There’s an Arc,” “I’ve Been Asleep for a Long, Long Time,” and “Red Heart.” - mondo magazine


"Echo Weekly likes us!"

" The songs are relaxed, intricately textured and bellowing with
folk, rock and country influences, but never reliant on one
specifically, instead creating a sound built atop the three but
unique of each."


"...never does the band veer off into overtly radio–friendly territory.
Instead, it’s pop music for those weary of pop music, simple
progressions beaming with complexity." - Echo Weekly


"Spun thinks we have a delicate balance!"

Spun
Jordyn Marcellus

"With masterful track sequencing, Into Your Lungs displays just how well Hey Rosetta can pull off the delicate balance between folk and rock, while channeling a nonchalant, off-the-cuff attitude."

May 29, 2008
Into Your Lungs Into Your Lungs

There's apparently a firm tradition among people from smaller towns in Newfoundland. Whole hoards of friends and family go to the beach, start a fire and play music using whatever instruments available, all for the sake of having a good time.

St. John's outfit Hey Rosetta's sophomore effort is evocative of one of these late night escapades. Like the Atlantic Ocean lapping at the shore, their newest album crests and ebbs like the tides and consistently interplays between folk and rock. Tracks like "Handshake the Gangster" initially come from a very folksy angle, until the electric guitars kick in to remind listeners of the band's rock roots.

There are gorgeous violins and squealing saxophones pushing a rock crescendo that hits hard and fast. After a rock song, the folk side of the band comes back to play. The best tracks, though, are when they meld each genre together. Twin tracks "Black Heart" and "Red Heart" show that interaction, each starting off quietly until the music builds for a more rocking end. With masterful track sequencing, Into Your Lungs displays just how well Hey Rosetta can pull off the delicate balance between folk and rock, while channeling a nonchalant, off-the-cuff attitude.



- Spun


"look out world"

The coast - june 2008

"the record is anchored throughout by faultless melody lines, often carried by the surging guitar (check out the awesome change at 3:27 of “New Goodbye”). It’s the tunefulness that will take Hey Rosetta! where they’re going. Look out, world. "




Hey Rosetta!
into your lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood)
(Sonic/Warner)
A listener encountering Hey Rosetta!’s earlier material might have pegged them as the place where Dave Matthews and Matt Good meet, somewhere on the rocky shores of Newfoundland. This new record reveals a complexity and confidence in both the songwriting and performance that resists those casual comparisons. Lead singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tim Baker is a grandly literate fellow, unafraid to string together couplets like “I’ll send a thousand suns to warm your worthy lungs” (from “A Thousand Suns”), writing songs that skate regularly past the five minute mark. Epic and orchestral, into your lungs crashes loudly into the baroque and that’s at least partly due to maximalist producer Hawksley Workman, and it suits the band’s broad palette and ability. Baker and his cohorts have always had a “go big or go home” aesthetic that occasionally eschews simplicity but they’ve got the chops to pull it off. Here, with shifting textures provided by the road-tested players and many a talented guest musician, including Jenn Grant on backing vocals, the record is anchored throughout by faultless melody lines, often carried by the surging guitar (check out the awesome change at 3:27 of “New Goodbye”). It’s the tunefulness that will take Hey Rosetta! where they’re going. Look out, world.

- the coast - halifax


"CD Review, EP"

"They are a six member collective from St. John's who write and perform some of the best music I've encountered in ages...a beautiful, edgy and contemporary alternative rock. As if the aural bliss weren't enough their 7-track disc, Ep, is rife with mature, poetic and thoughtful lyrics. These guys are good. So good. You really have to check them out."
-Robert John Hiscock, Online Review, rjproduct.ca, December 31st
- rjproduct.ca


"Early Review"

"The band has only released a self-titled EP, but it is their live show that has attracted many followers. A recent Boxing Day show actually had people turned away at the doors. With each new gig, more and more people are getting into their music... upon hearing this band's music, you can see why people are getting into it. Their songs are intricate, with delicate melodies at times, to straight-out-in-your-face rock and roll."
-Kevin Kelly, The Newfoundland Herald, January 15, 2006.
- The Newfoundland Herald


Discography

Seeds - ATO/Sonic Records, Feb 2011

Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) - Sonic Records, June 2008

Plan Your Escape EP (Remixed/Remastered) - Sonic Records, August 2007

Plan Your Escape - June 2006
Hey Rosetta! EP - November 2005

Photos

Bio

Hey Rosetta! hails from the rocky and cold northeastern province of Newfoundland, Canada. In 2005, frontman 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 is available February 15th and 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 vocal and lyrical abilities, and the band made a huge creative leap forward. Into Your Lungs garnered a slew of awards and critical accolades, was short-listed for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize, and Hey Rosetta! were named one of Billboard's Top 5 new Canadian acts.

During the three solid years of touring after Into Your Lungs was released 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 developed the sonic landscapes found on Seeds while maintaining an extensive 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 then holed up in Newfoundland to finish the songs before traveling to Halifax, NS to record with renowned producer Tony Doogan at The Sonic Temple. "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 were co-writes with guitarist Adam Hogan).

Thematically, Seeds explores everything 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".

First single "Welcome" is a song about Baker's close friends who were expecting a baby:

"I wrote a song for the little soon-to-be, who now is a 18 month old girl named Madeleine; healthy and beautiful, just like her parents" explains Baker, "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".