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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strange and beautiful, 2 Oct 2002
Strange and beautiful indeed. Many of you will have heard the opening track "Strange and beautiful (I'll put a spell on you)" as it is the soundtrack to the current VW Beetle advert that led millions of people wanting to know who sung THAT track. Well, his name is Matt Hales (ex-Ruth, The 45's).This is the debut solo LP by the singer/songwriter and what a debut it is! It is possibly the most beautiful album I've heard since Jeff Buckley's "Grace." And I use the word beautiful in the way it used to actually mean something. If you've been searching for an album so stunning that it could melt your heart along with the polar ice-caps, then this is for you. Be warned though that the tracks are not overtly beautiful like a sunset, they are dark and haunting and the whole album sounds sleepy-eyed as though it is just waking in the morning. "Aqualung" is driven by Hales' incredable voice and delicate piano lines that are intertwined occasionally with the odd sample, triangle, or organ etc. However, Hales has managed to layer the album cleverly so that you pick up on something new every listen yet the songs are not cluttered with sounds. Comparisons with Radiohead and Colplay are inevitable (mainly due to the falsetto moments)...but for once they are not undeserved. There are few artists that perfectly capture the fragility of beauty in its rawest forms (see Amazon review above for quote from "Strange and beautiful"). Other tracks, such as "Good time's gonna come", seem to take inspiration from smokey-jazz artists such as nina simone. If you're looking for a truly beautiful album, buy this. Aqualung will melt even the hardest of hearts...This really is one of the ESSENTIAL albums of the year. Although it's slow-moving, in the right mood it's far from depressing. There are moments when you can almost 'hear' Matt smiling. Buy it now or you'll regret it forever!
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