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Matt Hales, a.k.a. Aqualung, isn't much of a straight shooter--as a songsmith he's a natural meanderer, and as a one-man instrumentalist he's been known to pick up everything from a siren to a glockenspiel--but he's an expert at creating mesmerizing, sophisticated pop. On 2005's Strange and Beautiful, he twisted an overall outlook marked by murkiness and lethargy into something deeply pretty, and on Memory Man, his second U.S. release, he shows off a similar mastery of mood. The new disc starts with two relatively upbeat tracks, the love-tangled first single "Pressure Suit" and the guitar-heavy, un-Aqua-like "Cin
Matt Hales, a.k.a. Aqualung, isn't much of a straight shooter--as a songsmith he's a natural meanderer, and as a one-man instrumentalist he's been known to pick up everything from a siren to a glockenspiel--but he's an expert at creating mesmerizing, sophisticated pop. On 2005's Strange and Beautiful, he twisted an overall outlook marked by murkiness and lethargy into something deeply pretty, and on Memory Man, his second U.S. release, he shows off a similar mastery of mood. The new disc starts with two relatively upbeat tracks, the love-tangled first single "Pressure Suit" and the guitar-heavy, un-Aqua-like "Cinderella," but by track three Hales is back to his bag of engagingly doleful tricks: for the most part on this disc, he's "scratching around for something to believe in," as the song goes. Philosophical bent aside, Memory Man has its share of loose and un-cerebral moments, too. Last track "Broken Bones" dabbles in heavy-duty radio fuzz, and "Rolls So Deep" sidles up to a never-before-heard musical space that's equal parts Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne, and every affecting '70s ballad singer you've ever heard. --Tammy La Gorce
Memory Man, the eagerly-awaited sophomore release from British musical prodigy Aqualung arrives in stores on March 13th. Memory Man premieres 11 new Aqualung songs, each of them written or co-written by Matt Hales with his long-time collaborators Ben Hales and Kim Oliver. The first single, "Pressure Suit" is a gorgeous lo-fi, atmospheric masterpiece. Aqualung's 2005 US debut, Strange and Beautiful, reached #1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart propelled by the wildly popular single "Brighter Than Sunshine."
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Manufacturer: Red Ink
Release date: 23 April 2007
EAN: 0828768072325 UPC: 828768072325
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