Aqualung - Memory Man

Who are Aqualung? Aqualung is a man going by the name of Matt Hales. Why doesn’t he call himself Matt Hales, that’s a bit pretentious isn’t it? Yes it is, but there’s a very good reason; his music sounds like its been recorded underwater. In fact he must have been living underwater for the last four years not to notice that nowadays everyone seems to hate Coldplay, and that making an album which sounds more than a little like X&Y might not be a good idea. What’s a shame here is that Aqualung are much better than Coldplay. Still Life is my second favourite album ever, no small feat there, it’s a record that is perfect in every way and yet, despite being piano based, sounds nothing like Coldplay. Memory Man on the other hand, does. This is both a good and a bad thing. It�s a drastic change in sound and a departure for Aqualung, but its also less intimate, and as this record proves, it is Aqualung’s more intimate moments which are best.NME recently described Cinderella, album opener and first UK single as ’surprisingly epic’. I will go along with this sentiment. Just as Interpol began their new album with a more exciting atmospheric sound, this is actually quite a similar song but more moving. The production in particular is mesmerising, and you will suddenly find yourself surrounded by distorted lazy ‘ooh-oohs’ leading to the fantastic lyrics ‘Be careful what you hope and you pray for/ You know you’ll only get what you pay for’, an interesting twist on the story of Cinderella. You are also immediately confronted with Aqualung’s new sound which works well on songs such as Something to Believe in, easily the album’s best potential single partly because there is so much going on at once which you can completely miss the first few listens. The new ’stadium sound’ does not work so well on other tracks.

Outside is a track that will appeal to anyone who watches Gray’s Anatomy, i.e. you mother, but your mother also listened to Bananarama (possibly). The words ‘Together we can make it on the outside’ are either very poignant lyrics, or accessible drivel. Pressure Suit is similarly needless other than to establish that Aqualung is all about water and scuba diving or something. Vapour trail isn’t quite as offensive. In fact its quite listenable at first, but it builds up to something that is not really worth the build up. But there’s something odd about Vapour Trail. It sounds like it should be a love song, but actually the lyrics are far more adult. ‘I wish that love was all it took me home’, and ‘Who was I to take that risk/ and watch two hands become two fists’. Indeed Aqualung’s biggest achievement isn’t in his sound, its in his lyrical improvement.

I will now take you to the last song on the record. Broken Bones. This is Aqualung’s greatest song. You need to get hold of it. It’s a song about not wanting to be a Father, and finding it hard to write a song about it. Matt Hales has just had a baby, I find that quite brave. ‘This is the story about the three of us/Down by the water and the tide is rising/This world is burning and I’m terrified/I need a little more time with you’. The song itself sounds like it was written by John Lennon, but it wasn’t. Its dangerously moving and ends the record uncomfortably.

Despite the terrible moments, the good partsoutweigh the bad. Glimmer is a lovely little guitar number, intimate despite its production, which is reminiscent of Rich Costey. There’s also a couple of really weird tracks, but they are the highlights of the album. Black Hole at first sounds like its going to build up into one of those terrible American pop-rock songs but instead it breaks down into a bass-driven disco shuffle; if you have heard Endlessly by Muse, then you know what to expect. Black Hole also has a great little guitar Outro provided by Ben Hales. Most weirdly of all is the ominous The Lake, which sounds like a jerky yet smooth gothic fairytale, providing the albums second greatest moment.

Anyone who enjoys listening to music as they’re falling asleep should check out this album if only for the truly classic Broken Bones. Is this album going to win any awards though? No, It contains an awful lot of wank which makes the record possibly one of the most inconsistent you will hear. It is quite likely that you will not have heard Still Life from 2003, and the only advice I can give to you, is to purchase a copy of that instead.

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