Hey Rosetta!
Plan Your Escape
independent, 2006
By Elisha Denburg
The debut album from Newfoundland natives Hey Rosetta! is a catchy collection of pop songs with a unique sense of structure. Plan Your Escape makes its first bold statement with “Another Pilot,” an energetic anthem with several melodic fragments that are first introduced separately, then cleverly placed in counterpoint with one another — a cliché technique if not for its strong execution. Shying away from the strophic verse-chorus format, multi-talented leader Tim Baker uses stark juxtaposition while still managing to maintain coherence and integrity. A shining example of this is “The Simplest Thing” – a slow piano-and-voice ballad that after two minutes launches into a cheerful, jaunty, trumpet-driven shuffle, and finishes in a cathartic crescendo from the entire band. Somewhat reminiscent of Matthew Good, Baker’s gruff vocals are nicely softened by his sense of lilting melody, and complemented by sensitive violin and cello arrangements – something that Good hasn’t the musicianship to execute convincingly. Baker’s engaging lyrics freely intersperse banal conversational phrases with rich poetic imagery, furthering the band’s jarring, clashing trademark.
The album finds its flaw in the sequence of its tracks: most of the energy is packed into the first half, leaving the introspective numbers to drag out the rest of the disc and blend hopelessly into a sea of sameness. However, a final respite from this lethargy comes in the form of “Hospital Beds,” a genuinely moving climax that brings the disc to a sincere and satisfying close. The tangible energy of Hey Rosetta! in a live setting cements the notion that Tim Baker’s candid and refreshing approach to pop songwriting is one that cannot be easily ignored.
