Rich Jacques / New Single / Starlight

Much is made in the modern music climate of the different creative approaches of covering other people’s songs or performing your own work. But that is to miss the point somewhat. The best covers of other people’s work comes when an artist understands the song well enough to be able to present it in a unique way and without losing the whole point of why the song was written in the first place.

And it is a testament to Rich Jacques’ cover of Muse’s STARLIGHT, from whose lyrics the title of their breakthrough album Black Holes and Revelations comes, that he is able to reduce the song down to its understated essence, its naked truths, and still retain the sense of loss and longing of the original.

Starlight follows on from Oblivion in the planned schedule of monthly releases in 2019 from the artist and uses the same minimalist approach which in such deft hands makes the music seem more powerful for all its delicacy and ambience, not less. But why cover someone else’s song when it is clear that as an artist Rich Jacques has no shortage of his own unique music to offer?

“I loved the song from the moment I heard it,” he explains, “the emotion is so raw and not the surface, with such a beautiful melody. I’ve always been a fan of Muse and it was fascinating to me to simplify the song and really focus on the lyric. It really taps into the experience of missing someone and questioning why you’re doing something if it takes you away from who you love.”

Even a song such as this which started out life as a dynamic and vivid slice of alt-rock becomes something wonderfully ethereal when drawn into his world and the sense of intimacy reaches new heights when rendered along such clean and unadorned musical lines. The charm of the music he makes is that it follows its own instincts, ignoring fad or fashion completely and just revels in the simplistic charm of making music that is beautifully simple and simply beautiful.