Monday 15 August 2011
Yer spring
There’s this thing between me and Hey Rosetta! that you have to understand before reading any further. They make incredibly catchy, monumental rock records of the highest records that people all over the world fall in love with, and I make mildly dismissive entries on this website about them that I later partly recant. It’s sort of what we do. The last time I wrote about Hey Rosetta! here, I stopped short of doing a formal review of their Polaris Music Prize short-listed Seeds because I wasn’t “exactly blown away by it”. I’ve never used this blog as a forum to publish dismissive or negative reviews of music and musicians; if I’m going to take the time to write about a record, song or artists, then I want to endorse something I really love. Oddly, though, Hey Rosetta! seem to be the one band who, more often than not, get short shrift here, and it’s not something they deserve.
I was genuinely anticipating Seeds‘ release earlier this year. “Yer Spring” was a powerful portent for the album that it preceded. Like the season named-checked in it’s title “Yer Spring” starts life as a tiny bud, breaking through the top soil, soaking in the nurturing rays of the sun, slowly become stronger, unfurling its full majesty. I always picture a kind of time-elapsed video of seeds spouting into full plants when I listen to it. That such imagery is connected to an album titled Seeds is of little surprise. Hey Rosetta! have thrown themselves a coming out party on their third album. It betters their previous Polaris short listed LP Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) by reigning in their anthemic sound and focusing the power into compact, explosive songs like “Welcome”. One of my biggest criticisms of Into Your Lungs… was that it relied too heavily (and too frequently) on a loud-quiet dynamic to make its point. Whether it’s the influence of veteran producer Tony Doogan or a product of their time spent on the road honing their sound, Seeds is the sound of Hey Rosetta! hitting their stride.
So why wasn’t I “blown away” by it? I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about it this week, and I’ve come up with a parallel scenario from my past that might explain it. In high school and university, everyone around me seemed to love The Tragically Hip. They knew all the words to all their songs, danced drunkenly to “New Orleans Is Sinking” and extolled the virtues of Gord Downie’s lyrics. I never bought into it. In fact, I went out of my way–all the way to England and the burgeoning Britpop scene–to distance myself from the “Cult of The ‘Hip”. It wasn’t so much a matter of taste as principle. I was a “musical aficionado”, the kind of elitist that I’d like to punch in the face now, but back then I couldn’t (WOULDN’T!) allow myself to publicly endorse such a widely popular band. This was back in the day of the Columbia House Music Club, an offer no music-loving university freshman could refuse, and so as I lamented the lack of any “decent” music available to buy through the club, I decided that I would flesh out my 10 CDs-for-a-buck order with The Tragically Hip’s back catalogue. In the isolation of my dorm room, I listened to Road Apples, Fully Completeley, and their new-at-the-time disc Day For Night and had to admit to myself that these guys had talent and skill. I didn’t become a convert, or even an all out fan of the band (I never bought another of their records after that) but I stopped being so negative about them.
Sounds familiar, right? I may never be an all-out fan of Hey Rosetta! the way I am with some other bands, but I can appreciate the talent and creativity the Newfoundlanders bring to their records and live shows, and the vitality they inject into Canada’s modern music scene. It may not be one of my 10 personal favourite albums of the past year, but Seeds isn’t my least favourite album on this year’s short list (I’m hoping they make it to this year’s Gala, and just blow the roof off the house with a thunderous version of “Yer Fall’). As for “our thing”, I promise to keep on listening to what Hey Rosetta! put out if they promise to keep putting out album’s as solid as Seeds.
Seeds was released on February 15, 2011 on Sonic Records.
And I also promise award one faithful QBiM reader (especially one that’s made it THIS far in this post!) with their very own copy of Seeds. Thanks to the good people of Sonic Recordings, all you have to do to win is visit the Quick Before It Melts Facebook page, “Like” and/or Comment on this post on our Wall. A winner will be randomly selected from all the Likes and Comments left before midnight, August 22. (Please be sure to check that your Facebook privacy settings will allow me to send you a message directly if you’re the lucky winner.) For those not on Facebook, you can also enter by leaving a comment here through the link below.
MP3: Hey Rosetta! “Yer Spring”
Facebook: Hey Rosetta!
Twitter: Hey Rosetta!
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This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 8:35 am and is filed under Contests, MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Cuff The Duke
Bee Bop and Rock Steady August 19th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Sounds as if you’re trying to distance yourself from the band, before you get the label that so man HR! fans are beginning to receive….HIPSTER. I believe anyone who uses this term is in turn being a hipster. I’ve recently said to a friend who uttered something similar “Is it cool to hate Hey Rosetta! already?” I’ve listened to Hey Rosetta! since their incarnation, the kind of fan who yells at them to play more PYE, “let’s hear Tie Down the Dying” at live shows. They are first class and I don’t care how big they become as long as they stick with the formula of making my jaw drop and ears melt they’ll be in my heart. The “epicness” of their songwriting has become their style, and despite ALEX AUGUST’s opinion I do not grow tired of the proportion of this on any record. I do not need to hear crap songs in between the gems so that I don’t get tired of hearing gem after gem. They do not try hard to blow people away, it is the nature that is Hey Rosetta! I think it comes easily to them.