HEY ROSETTA! SECOND SIGHT: THOUGHTS+SCORE by Lucas Rossi
In the early 2000s Canada was a goldmine for fans of alternative music, spawning giants in several genres; most notably underground favorites post-rock (GY!BE) and indie rock (Arcade Fire). Hey Rosetta!, a smaller Canadian project in that vein, play that celebrated, prototypical brand of indie rock, unabashedly earnest and decidedly serious, that when done well spawns genre classics (records by Arcade Fire, Frightened Rabbit. and the like) and when done poorly fully embraces the descriptor “vanilla,” making all other indie music look bad by association. Hey Rosetta!, fortunately, lean toward the former and have built a career in the genre that culminated in 2011 with a borderline genre classic, Seeds. The band differentiate themselves from the other great acts that came before them with a few stylistic choices, most notably a clean, radio-friendly sheen and a measure of orchestrated bombast and flourish (incorporating lots of piano/horns/strings/ etc), almost like if Coldplay made indie music (well, if Coldplay made indie music that was actually good). They sprinkle in a moderate amount of Paul Simon-esque worldbeat/ afrobeat/(whatever other culturally problematic and musically unhelpful label you want
to use) elements that other indie bands have flirted with to some success (Dracula Saturdaysunday). All these things came together perfectly on Seeds, one of the best indie rock albums ever (in my estimation) and an album that could have almost been a big mainstream hit. Naturally, then, I was excited to hear this year’s follow-up, Second Sight. And I did hear it. A lot. I’ve listened through this record several times, after each time realizing I had hardly even heard anything in the course of its runtime. After just a few plays I could only really think of one thing to call the album: inoffensively pleasant. This isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, and I think the album deserves a bit more than that given that the band clearly made a solid effort. The instrumentation is technically sound and the songs are decently varied in terms of sound. Front man Tim Baker’s vocals are pretty on point as always: distinctive, emotive, and striking just the right balance between clean, controlled tenderness and bursting, unrestrained outpour. The band are doing what they’re good at, and they just know how to make enjoyable indie music. 10
