Aqualung: Strange and Beautiful
- Brian Thomas
- Nov 14, 2005
- Series: Music
I am a confessed musoholic (new word?). I eagerly wait for each Tuesday like a child on Christmas Eve - knowing that I will get to hear the new albums that will be released for that week. But as excited as I get by the prospect of hearing something great, I am more than often let down by the lack of creativity that modern music has to offer. This was not the case with the North American release of Strange and Beautiful by British balladeer Aqualung.
Matt Hales, the former child prodigy behind Aqualung, boasts an amazing tenor, piano and compositional chops on this debut, which is a combination of tracks from his two U.K. albums.
The songs are emotive and melodic, combining quiet classical piano structures with brooding pop vocals that will garnish comparisons to Radiohead and Coldplay.
In a recent radio interview, Matt Hales said that his two favorite albums of all times were Handel’s Messiah and Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Strange? Yes. Beautiful? Definitely! Aqualung combines what are seemingly two very disparate influences into a sweet concoction that goes down easy.
Loss and longing are the greatest stand-out themes on this album, but they come across as contemplative and searching without succumbing to outright depression, which is common on a lot of records today. Matt has used his past failures to rally onward, which in itself breeds hope.
This is the case with the most upbeat track, “Brighter than Sunshine”:
I never saw it happening
I'd given up and given in
I just couldn't take the hurt again
What a feeling
I didn't have the strength to fight
Suddenly you seemed so right
Me and you
What a feeling
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
It's brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don't care
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine
Suddenly you're mine
Even an upbeat song from Aqualung does not stray too far from melancholy, which is the strength of this album. As many times as I have listened to this album (which is a lot), it never becomes tiresome or trite. Love and longing, sorrow and joy go hand-in-hand. This is the reality and strange beauty of every relationship that I have ever had.
In the wake of what must be the third Brit-rock invasion, Aqualung have already been criticized as wannabes, following in the success of similar bands like Keane, Snow Patrol, and of course, Coldplay. In my opinion, Aqualung, though similar are not derivative. They are familiar, and yet original and worth a listen. Life is like the title track: Strange and Beautiful.
Hear Brian Thomas' band Call Down Fire!
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