Product Description

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."

Track Listing

1. Cinderella
2. Pressure Suit
3. Something to Believe In
4. Glimmer
5. Vapour Trail
6. Rolls So Deep
7. Lake
8. Black Hole
9. Outside
10. Garden of Love
11. Broken Bones

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50420 in Music
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Won't Be Disappointed With This Album
This is Aqualung's best album. While Matt Hales' previous release Strange and Beautiful, had a few standout tracks, the album as a whole was lukewarm at best. On the other hand, Memory Man is filled with quality tracks and is one of the better releases from the first quarter of 2007. Fans of the Coldplay-Radiohead-Keane genre of music should be very pleased with this album.

"Pressure Suit" is the first single and likewise was the first track that really caught my attention. Hales' vocals sound more like Thom Yorke's than ever in this song, and the song's outstanding chorus and instrumentation make this arguably the best song on the CD.

"Something To Believe In" also features a memorable chorus like many of the songs on Memory Man. The production on this album is top-notch and really allows songs like these to shine in their luscious, atmospheric-glory. "Glimmer" is softer than the previous two tracks, sounding a little like another UK band, Athlete. The increased use of guitars on this album is evident in songs like "Vapour Trail," which has a slight Verve feel to it.

The sixth track, "Rolls So Deep" resembles Snow Patrol's hit "Chocolate" with its driving beat and power-pop melodies. This is easily the catchiest and most upbeat song on the album, acting as a great change of pace. The next track, "The Lake" is moody and Radiohead-esque with its unique piano riffs, and you could easily mistakenly believe that it was Thom Yorke singing both vocal parts in the chorus.

"Outside" features a great lead-in to the chorus and the delayed-guitars are used well in this song. The most beautiful track on the album is "Garden of Love." Matt Hales' vocals and lyrics in this song really match the sense of longing that this song was meant to portray.

This CD ends with "Broken Bones," a simple piano ballad with minimal production that finishes the album off in a sincere way. Fans of Aqualung should really appreciate this album, and there is no doubt that this record will generate some new fans as well.

4.5 Stars.... Aqualung's new album takes the next leap
Aqualung (a/k/a Matt Hales' one man band with help from his brother in the live setting and his wife co-writing) burst onto the scene with the song "Brighter Than Sunshine", used in a TV commercial, which lead to the US 2005 release of the "Strange and Beautiful" album, itself a compilation of 2 earlier UK albums. Now comes the eagerly awaited second US album, but really the third proper album from Aqualung.

"Memory Man" (11 tracks, 50 min.) starts off with a blast. After about 5 seconds of "Cinderella", guitars come crashing in, and you immediatly realize this is a new era for Aqualung, with a much more "in your face" sound. "Cinderella" and the next track, first single "Pressure Suit", remind of arena-sized Coldplay, and it sounds great. The first half of the album brings the "rockier" sound, including a great "Vapour Trail". The second half of the album finds Aqualung bringing quieter songs, reminiscent of the "Strange and Beautiful" album. Check out "The Lake" and in particular the gorgeous "Garden of Love" and the closer "Broken Bones". Incidentally, Matt Hales' wife Kim Oliver co-wrote half of the songs on the album. In all, this album takes Aqualung to the next level, a fantastic album overall.

I pre-ordered this album at Aqualung's show last week in Cincinnati, and just for doing that I also got "Aqualung Live & Rarities: With Apologies to Anyone Who Is Really Heartbroken" (13 tracks, 37 min.), a mix of spoken (and often funny) introductions by Matt Hales and 7 actual songs taken from concerts and in-radio sessions. In particular noteworthy is the cover of Queen's "Somebeody to Love", done beautifully. At Aqualung's set last week (opening for Pete Yorn), the set was mixed up between older and new (unheard) songs, and the band just shone. Watch them take on America....

3-1/2 stars -- Short-circuited, but good
When Aqualung's song "Brighter Than Sunshine" started getting rotation on VH1 a few years ago, critics and reviewers alike started to compare him to Chris Martin of Coldplay, something that I never really understood. It's too bad that that acclaim didn't result in strong album sales, because he was pretty much forgotten about a month or so after that. But he still comes back at us with Memory Man.

The problem that Aqualung has, however, is vocals. On his last album, Strange & Beautiful, he had the habit of singing so hard that he went off-key. HERE, he...well, maybe the problem isn't so much his voice, but the album's engineering. A lot of the time, his singing is so soft that I had to turn my volume all the way up to understand what he was saying, and I had the lyrics right in front of me. This is evident in songs like "Pressure Suit", "Cinderella", "The Lake" and "Garden of Love" (but the latter is pretty corny anyway).

But there are still notable songs, like "Black Hole", "Something to Believe In", "Outside" and my favorite, the funky "Rolls So Deep". But "Broken Bones", with its CB radio effect, is a little hard to get into. Memory Man is far from being a bad album, but I just wonder if Aqualung knows just what he wants to do with his voice yet. As I often say, borrow it first.

Anthony Rupert