Aqualung

• Year: 2002
• Rating: 8/10
• Cat. No: BUN033

Track listing:

1. Strange & Beautiful
2. Falling Out Of Love
3. Good Times Gonna Come
4. If I Fall
5. Just For A Moment
6. Tongue-Tied
7. Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind
8. Everything Changed
9. Gentle
10. Nowhere
11. Halfway To The Bottom

Aqualung is the sound of one man, Matthew Hales, and his piano. Granted, there are some subtle guitar and drums occasionally embellishing these 11 fragile, minimalisitc compositions, but from the very outset – Top 10 single Strange & Beautiful from a current car commercial – Aqualung finds its niche and contentedly operates within those parameters.

Often, the results are rather lovely, a melancholy fusion of neo-classical keyboards and Hales’ wavering falsetto pitched somewhere between Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley. Traces of Peter Gabriel and, suprisingly, Howard Jones at his ethereal best (Gentle in particular recalls Jones from his thoughtful late 80s era) abound as well, not to mention the inevitable comparison with another prodigious talent simultaneously arrived on the scene, 19-year old Martin Grech (even the two acts’ sleeve artwork looks similar). However, this is no Open Heart Zoo, with little deviation from the enchanting qualities of Strange & Beautiful.

The most interesting moments come late on, whereupon Hales branches out just far enough to encompass slightly more than the sub-Radiohead/Coldplay approach which almost marrs the album’s opening half. Everything Changed, Nowhere and Halfway To The Bottom are uniformly outstanding, and offer ample proof that Aqualung/Hales is not quite a one-trick-pony after all.