With delicate, weeping guitar and his characterful, melodic vocal, Jack Henderson finds the sounds to match the beauty in the lyrics for his new single ‘Stars’. There is a hymnal quality to this song, which takes in the sweep of human existence, from our beginnings as, “…such stuff as stars are made of,” to what we may become in a hoped-for future. As he explores the big questions of existence and our place in the cosmos, Henderson sings: “We are blood and dust and wind // We are the stories that we tell // We are the conscious light // That lingers on // A hope that will remain when we have gone.”
This meditative direction was inspired by the works and words of Stephen Hawking. Ambitiously, Henderson brings together theoretical physics and his reflections on human nature. He explains: “We’re often acutely aware of our own failings. We all have the capacity for occasional acts of selfishness, anger or jealousy, but those need not be what define us. We are all capable of acts of incredible kindness and self-sacrifice too. Perhaps we begin caring for each other by forgiving and being kind to ourselves first and recognising our shared human condition. We are so much better than we think we are and if we devote our energies to building the world we want to live in and pass on to generations that follow us we become the hope that truly remains.”
Henderson’s final single of 2020 is taken from the new album ‘Where’s the Revolution’, which is out now. Almost twenty years on from his well-regarded debut, ‘Cheap Tattoo’, Jack Henderson continues to find inspiration and is producing some of the best music of his career. Take a listen and enjoy a little awe and wonder at the majesty of the universe.
