Haken’s Ross Jennings Channels Rick Springfield on New Song, “Rocket Science”
Haken vocalist Ross Jennings has today released his debut solo album, Shadow of My Future Self, and with that comes a video for one of the album’s standout tracks, “Rocket Science.”
Haken fans likely already know from the prior singles Jennings has released from the album, but this ain’t no prog record. Side/solo projects are for branching out though, so we’d expect as much, right? Right.
For Jennings, “Rocket Science” — the lyrical theme of which is the quintessentially goofy ’80s love song refrain of “I did you wrong, baby, but I’m apologizing whole-heartedly so let’s make up, it’s not rocket science!!” — sounds like a long-lost Rick Springfield song, complete with eminently danceable groove, sugary pop chorus hook and ample analogue synths. Real solid tune! And the video shows Jennings handling all the instruments except for the keyboard — nay, KEYTAR — which is wielded by Stephanie Tripp.
Ross comments:
“‘Rocket Science’ was among the first demos written for the album. I always knew I wanted to express my ‘Arena Rock Anthem’ side and I think I achieved that with this song. It’s definitely powerful, and unashamedly goofy in places but there is a gentle quality to it that I’m proud of too. I’ve been told it makes for great ‘hit the open road’ driving music, which is exactly what I’d set out to achieve with this one!
“For the ‘Rocket Science’ video I teamed up with Justin Griffiths Creative who has recently done some phenomenal videos for Ferocious Dog & The Wildhearts. The focus was not only about the performance side but I also wanted Justin to visually interpret the lyrics which are about the emotional rollercoaster and cyclical nature of male/female relationships. The lyrics were based on personal experiences and these themes laid the foundation for the majority of the album. Justin, his team and guest actress Stephanie Tripp, really helped ignite this concept on film.”
Check out the video for “Rocket Science” below. Shadow of My Future Self is out now; order it here.
