The debut self-titled Aqualung album reached Gold status in recognition of over 100,000 domestic sales, while the brighter symphonic scope of his second album, Still Life, led to another chart hit with ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’. Comprised of various labels we know and love at Rough Trade (Bella Union, ATO, Speedy Wunderground, Phantasy, Heavenly, Mute and more) PIAS [Recordings] filter through some of the most diverse artistry to our racks, which we greatly enjoy digging into. I love articles like this, and I will be forwarding this one to Matt Hales so he can have a gentle laugh or a shrug of the shoulders. Still, it’s unlikely Aqualung’s gentle ballads will trouble the top of the Billboard charts (hey, Matt did get close enough, in 2003 ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’ reached 32 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart in the U. It’s funny, but some musicians who have long careers are often apologetic about their most recent work.

While on the road, Hales would routinely switch up the Aqualung show with different musicians, settings, and approaches. In addition to this, Hales co-wrote "Everything Is Sound" on Jason Mraz's Grammy nominated album Love Is a Four Letter Word, [46] and worked with Paloma Faith on the single " Just Be" from her album Fall to Grace. Also in 2013, Aqualung was featured on the song "Surrounded" on the album A Song Across Wires by EDM artist BT. By the time Aqualung’s third album, ‘Memory Man’ emerged, glowing comparisons had been made with everyone from Bacharach to Radiohead via The Beach Boys, while his music has featured in ‘Twilight’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.As those songs evolved into a catalogue of material, Hales reunited with some of the team behind the second Aqualung album, ‘Still Life’, for sessions at Real World near Bath, where that album was recorded. I’m sort of thumbing my nose at the world of streaming” he told me recently on The Art of Longevity podcast. That was Matt’s rather tongue-in-cheek cue to launch into Champion of the World, alas, not a streaming hit. Aqualung is best known in the UK for his song " Strange and Beautiful", which was featured on a television advertisement for the new Volkswagen Beetle during the summer of 2002 [3] and went on to become a top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart later that year.

Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault] Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault] “Slut!

Also the Aqualung records " Still Life" and " Aqualung" will be released on colored vinyl in November 2022. citation needed] It was released in March 2007, and the liner notes credit Hales with playing the following instruments: piano, Fender Rhodes, glockenspiel, electric guitar, Stairwell Drums, harmonium, Moog bass and vocoder. Despite releasing two well-received singles, the label declined to renew the band's contract in March 2002, [19] leading the band to split up. He aspired to be a musician from an early age, writing songs using the family piano when he was just 4 years old.

Those demos were finessed over the course of two years with some of his trusted collaborators: his brother Ben Hales, his wife Kim Oliver, and Matt Vincent-Brown, his bandmate in his pre- Aqualung projects The 45s and Ruth.A routinely great artist, much of Sufjan's universal appeal comes from his skills as a gifted narrator, pairing personal musings on love and devotion with commentary on American culture, whilst welding folk and electronica, the ambient and existential. In 2010, Hales moved to Los Angeles, to begin the production of his sixth studio album titled Magnetic North. One of the great things about streaming is that the system tells you what the best songs are that you’ve ever written. THE 7th album FROM AQUALUNG, Dead Letters, is a homecoming record that thumbs its nose up to streaming conventions. While this might have a touch more humility than the usual brazen fib “this is my best work ever”, they needn’t be.