Late last year, Hey Rosetta! shook the east coast music scene with the announcement that, after a decade as one of Atlantic Canada’s most prominent bands, they’d be calling it quits… at least for the foreseeable future. Now, following a series of shows that concluded with Hey Rosetta!‘s final appearance at their annual Christmas show in St John’s, Newfoundland, frontman Tim Baker is making his first appearance as a solo act at Shivering Songs music festival in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
“The Juno-nominated singer is best known for his intimate, poetic lyrics and powerful live vocal delivery, garnering Hey Rosetta! multiple awards along with their numerous sold-out tours. Tim formed the band in 2005, after graduating from the creative writing program at Montreal’s Concordia University. Armed with the editing discipline he’d acquired in poetry classes, the St. John’s native returned home and began singing newly penned songs solo, until realizing that this music needed more texture than just piano and acoustic guitar. Newfoundland is known for its great musical exports, but from the beginning, Hey Rosetta! was different. They were a band that connected in an almost intangible, inexplicable way. Baker’s haunting and distinctive voice and his writing, with a lyrical sensibility that defines the band as one of the most poetic Canadian exports; the rolling indie-rock precision meeting hooky pop sensibilities, off-set by the delicate touch of cello, violin, and french horn, that cuts through the most cramped club or across any vast open air festival stage.”
“Tim’s writing has touched all of us over the years,” said Shivering Songs co-organizer Zach Atkinson. “Where most New Brunswickers couldn’t travel to Toronto or St. John’s for the Hey Rosetta! farewell shows, hosting Tim at Shivering Songs took on that much more significance,” he said. “We’re thrilled to bring him back to our community.”
Baker will be joining a line-up that includes Bahamas, The Weather Station, David Myles, Catherine MacLellan, Sandro Perri, Hillsburn, The Olympic Symphonium and more.
Shivering Songs will be held January 18th to 21st, 2018. Although passes to the midwinter celebration of songwriting and storytelling are already sold out, there are still a limited number of individual tickets are available for some shows, which can be purchased online. One dollar from each ticket or pass sold in 2017-2018 will be donated to the United Way of Central New Brunswick.