Strange and Beautiful

1	Strange & Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on You) 3:51
2	Falling Out of Love 4:03
3	Good Times Gonna Come 3:53
4	Brighter Than Sunshine 4:01
5	Breaking My Heart 3:29
6	Tongue-Tied 3:52
7	Left Behind 3:47
8	You Turn Me Round 4:19
9	If I Fall 4:54
10	Easier to Lie 3:14
11	Extra Ordinary Thing 3:18
12	Another Little Hole 5:34

Barnes & Noble

Matt Hales, the man behind the Aqualung name, couldn't have chosen a more appropriate title for his Stateside bow. His sonic mood food skirts the outskirts of ambience but offers enough in the way of form so that nothing comes across as aural wallpaper. Hales couches his tales of starry-eyed love (expressed on the title track) and the woeful, unrequited version of the same emotion (aired on the postmodern torch song "Falling Out of Love") in the same sort of outsider mufti often used by Radiohead's Thom Yorke, whose wounded tenor is an obvious influence here. For the most part, Aqualung is a keyboard-driven vehicle, one that can glide along smoothly, as evidenced by the string-laced "Easier to Lie," or lurch forward in more persnickety fashion. Hales applies the latter method most successfully on the quietly desperate "Breaking My Heart," on which he cleaves oppressive bass lines with frustrated lyrics about losing faith in, well, just about everything. Even in his most dour moments, however, Hales never loses sight of his melodic muse, making him -- along with kindred spirit Tom Chaplin of Keane -- a welcome piano man for the new millennium. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Using the nom de rock Aqualung, singer/songwriter Matt Hales merges material from his two U.K. discs on Strange and Beautiful, his appealing U.S. debut. Vocally reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Hales' musical approach will likely win converts from fans of the aforementioned. The title track, which gained significant attention after it was used in a U.K Volkswagen commercial, is a compelling piano ballad with enough experimental touches to put it in the company of Coldplay and Keane, but there are equally good offerings like "Brighter Than Sunshine" and "Left Behind." With the former, Hales finds love by surprise ("I didn't believe in destiny") with a Beatles' ballad pace, but it's not all optimism. Devotion turns to devastation on "Falling Out of Love," a jazzy number with a heartfelt delivery. On rare occasion, the material feels sluggish (as with "Tongue-Tied") but by and large, Aqualung's U.S. entry is a breath of fresh air. John D. Luerssen

Rolling Stone

Keenly focused keyboard-based drama that blows away all pretenders trailing in Coldplay's wake. Barry Walters