From his 2019 album, Forever Overhead, former Hey Rosetta! frontman Tim Baker has released a video for “The Eighteenth Hole” which prominently features his home province of Newfoundland and a cast that covers a good cross-section of its photogenic populace.
Directed by Amos Le Blanc and Adrian Vieni, “The Eighteenth Hole” is a visually stunning collection of shots seemingly connected by location and a uniformly melancholic tone. All the while Baker’s voice hangs in the air, backed by synth and strings, evoking the gentler side of Thom Yorke, while reminiscing in the destructive wake of a country club wedding.
There’s a disconnect between the visuals and the lyrics, but perhaps that’s exactly what is called for: the aftermath of an event from which we move forward with nothing but our sadness.
“It was the first video I’ve ever been a part of where I was almost completely hands off with the production,” explains Baker. “My manager Jase reached out to Amos, who we’ve been a fan of for quite some time, and shared a series of scenes that I’d dreamt up that I thought would really inform and be informed by the song. Several conversations later it was decided that he would fly to Newfoundland with his producer, cinematographer and crew and use pretty much the entire budget just slowly shooting as many beautiful, sad, interesting scenes as they could in a week. I never saw anything until the first assembly about a month later. I loved it immediately, and now come through the editing process, I love it so much. It’s very fitting but open, nostalgic but new and I hope you like it.
“We had lots of ideas for how to release it and where and when. It felt right to get it out before the end of the year and the end of the decade. And it felt right to get it out where it was made and where my all my touring ends for the year – back home in St. John’s with my shows Sunday & Monday nights.”
Tour Dates:
02.01.20 – Porto, PT @ Casa da Música
15.01.20 – Lisbon, PT @ Musicbox Lisboa
16.01.20 – Leiria, PT @ Atlas Hostel
17.01.20 – Estarreja, PT @ Cine-Teatro of Estarreja
22.01.20 – London, UK @ Servant Jazz Quarters
24.01.20 – Shrewsbury, UK @ Henry Tudor House
26.01.20 – Dublin, IE @ Upstairs at Whelans
29.01.20 – Cardiff, UK @ Acapella
31.01.20 – Bristol, UK @ Hare on the Hill
02.02.20 – Brighton, UK @ Prince Albert
07.02.20 – Neuburg an der Donau, DE @ Più Piano
09.02.20 – Vienna, AT @ Chelsea
12.02.20 – Hamburg, DE @ Mojo Jazz Cafe
13.02.20 – Berlin, DE @ Prachtwerk
15.02.20 – Groningen, NL @ Lutherse Kirk
16.02.20 – Utrecht, NL @ TivoliVrendenburg