As lead vocalist and co-songwriter of successful modern progressive metal band HAKEN, ROSS JENNINGS has been involved in some of the biggest releases in the prog metal world over the past decade. Now, ROSS JENNINGS has written, recorded, and self-produced his debut solo effort titled A SHADOW OF MY FUTURE SELF, which is set to be released on November 19th, 2021 via Graphite Records.
Today, Ross is pleased to share the new animated video for the track “Feelings”, created by Crystal Spotlight, which you can see here:
“Given the circumstances of being locked down in 2020, I decided very early on that the best way to go for the ‘Feelings’ promo video would be some form of animated presentation. Originally planned to be the lead single, the video game concept started off as a work-around to the limitations of lockdown, but the scope and ambition for the project evolved and escalated exponentially over the course of production. Crystal Spotlight have created some incredible work for HAKEN in the past and our fantastic working relationship is such that I’m always trying to challenge them with my video concepts, but I think this time I took the biscuit!
“Essentially, what Miles Skarin and his team have created is a fully functional platform RPG, which involved weeks and weeks of scene building and some motion capture sessions, which they have integrated into a music video format along with some live scenes filmed earlier this year.
The visuals in the film play homage to various iconic video games from my youth, with the RJ avatar navigating his way through the levels. There are plenty of “Easter eggs” to uncover and the results are really quite mind-blowing!!!
“In terms of the music itself, ‘Feelings’ panders to the sort of arena rock ear candy you would possibly expect from Styx, Kiss, Whitesnake or Journey. “This is a crucial element to my solo work actually, I’ve been more focussed on aiming for accessible rock anthems and hooks rather than the intellectual intricacies typically found in my other progressive oriented outlets… for me, this was more about having some fun as a songwriter, performer and classic rock music fan”
A SHADOW OF MY FUTURE SELF finds Ross on a musical journey fans have not heard him explore professionally before, writing very personal songs in what can only be described as a love letter to Ross’s extensive record collection and eclectic musical upbringing that were the foundation to his musical inspiration. This album in question starts on the fringe of a country road, navigates indie pop, anthemic rock, power ballads, and culminates in some epic prog.
The album is available for pre-order here:
https://ffm.to/asomfs
Tracklisting:
1. Better Times 4:09
2. Words We Can’t Unsay 5:04
3. Violet 5:30
4. The Apologist 4:56
5. Rocket Science 4:15
6. Catcher in the Rye 5:19
7. Since That Day 3:25
8. Young At Heart 8:14
9. Feelings 4:57
10. Third Degree 4:35
11. Phoenix 11:15
12. Grounded 8:03
13. Year 4:56
14. Be The One (Bonus Track) 3:26
