Once upon a time, pop and rock musicians told stories with their music, telling tales of yellow submarines and tambourine men, but, that was once upon a time. Now we're fed clever hooks and redundant rhymes in hopes that the teens and twenty-somethings will dance and sway along. It'd be nice to say that Aqualung defies this trend, but with Magnetic North, that does not seem to be the case.
Just in time for summer, Matt Hales, the persona of Aqualung, is back with a fresh new album, Magnetic North. Despite rumors of his early retirement in 2007, Hales is back to work with his sixth studio album, the second under the label Verve Forecast. In his normal fashion, Hales has compiled an album of mostly stark, haunting and ambient ballads with a few songs delivering radio-friendly piano melodies and catchy riffs. Hales felt an overwhelming obligation to tour with this album, remarking that he was ""like the guy in the park with 12 giant puppies being pulled along; I didn't want to come out [of retirement],"" in an interview with AllAboutJazz.com.
Hales, however, has trouble explaining the sound of Magnetic North. ""It's hard to describe. It's like 12 kids who you would never guess were in the same family until you hear them speaking. See? I told you it's hard to describe,"" Hales stated on his Facebook page. Whether Hales is hinting towards the fact that the album is inconsistent in its delivery of slow ballads and lighthearted pop songs, or whether he, too, finds the album to be a clusterfuck of tunes orphaned by better musicians, he's right: The album is hard to describe.
Magnetic North was recorded in L.A., where Hales relocated with his wife last fall. The track, ""California,"" draws inspiration from this move, as Hales says, ""We lose our troubles in the sun."" Lyrics to the track, ""You know I've also been a dreamer / How you'd laugh about all my silly, silly dreams / To fly away / To make a big mistake / Before we come undone,"" reflect his sunny city escape. The cliché inspiration and uninteresting sound the song delivers almost adds insult to injury.
Magnetic North also features collaborations with other pop/rock artists Sara Bareilles and A Fine Frenzy. ""Remember Us,"" which was featured on ""Grey's Anatomy"" and Hales' MySpace, is backed by the soulful sounds of Sara Bareilles. The ballad finds itself in a syrupy paean to old hits like ""Strange and Beautiful.""
""It's heavy and sad and fond and sadder still because of how much fondness there is,"" Hales explains. A Fine Frenzy's Alison Sudol also contributed to Magnetic North with the track ""Time Moves Slow.""
The light, non-cynical side of the album, songs like ""Fingertip,"" Hale's first single released from the album, and ""New Friend,"" are likely to find a following among the mom and maudlin crowd. ""New Friend"" begins with a piano melody and tempo reminiscent of the theme song to the ""Peanuts"" franchise. These buoyant, sing-a-long songs have an over-zealous, hey-listen-to-how-upbeat-I-am quality that nags at the listener. Magnetic North seems to be the album that will take Aqualung out of retirement and back into touring. Whether or not that is a good thing will depend on who's listening. So then, the question is, who is listening? The ever-so-faithful crowd of thirty-somethings hoping for another ""Brighter Than Sunshine?"" Probably, and they will be the only ones.
