Magnetic North

Aqualung | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 20, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Verve Forecast
• ASIN: B0036XN2SU
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,993 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

Aqualung's Matt Hales thought he had it all figured out. In 2007, the British singer/songwriter told a London audience that he was retiring. "I'd had enough of it at that point and thought I might just be a teacher or do something else."

However, the stellar batch of tunes that make up his new Verve album, "Magnetic North," came calling and they wouldn't take no for an answer. "The songs were like `Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, C'mon dad, let's go, let's go, let's go,' Hales laughs. "I'm still ever so slightly reluctant, but I don't have any choice. I'm like the guy in the park with 12 giant puppies being pulled along; I didn't want to come out. Well, I made these puppies so I guess I must have secretly wanted to get out there."

"Magnetic North" is Hales' first album of all new material since he relocated from England to sunny Los Angeles last fall. (In 2008, Verve released "Words and Music," a set largely comprised of re-recordings of previously released songs.) A song snippet, "California," foreshadowed his new home. "When that song was written, it still just represented somewhere else, something else better. It was New Year's Eve 2008 when my wife Kim [Oliver] and I decided it was time for a change."

Hales compares "Magnetic North" to a Robert Altman movie. "The common theme is mature relationships in various degrees of difficulty," he says. "They're not all the same relationship. It's not all my relationship. Some of it is fiction, some of it isn't. The thing that is common to all these relationships, whether they last or not, is there was a point when the other person was everything." And, with luck, will be again. "The bottom line is `We're all fucked up, but I love you, so there's got to be some hope.'"

As cohesively as the album works as a whole, individual tunes stand entirely on their own. "Each song in itself was totally convincing to me," Hales says. "They all are completely different, but they actually are from the same parents."

Or at least the same dad. Hales wrote the 12 songs with his usual collaborators--

his wife and his brother, Ben, but also worked with a few special co-writers, including Scottish band Blue Nile's legendary Paul Buchanan (on "36 Hours"). "If you want to know why I make the music I do, it has a lot to do with Blue Nile," Hales says. "The fact that we've become friends is a magical thing."

"Magnetic North" is a glorious celebration of smart pop music. Led by Hales' exquisite keyboard-based melodies, the album's 12 songs revel in impossibly upbeat joy, such as the Beck-like opening track "New Friend," and the unabashedly, non-cynical "Fingertip," as they just as surely drown in the bleak sorrow of "Sundowning" or layered, grand majesty of "Time Moves Slow." The chugging, percussive "Hummingbird" exalts in the force majeure of Hales' 2-year-old daughter. In their own way, each song sweeps the listener up in its arms and takes him or her on a musical journey.

"Magnetic North" includes many guests including Sara Bareilles on the haunting "Remember Us" and "New Friend," as well as A Fine Frenzy's Alison Sudol on "Time Moves Slow," and Kelly Sweet on "Fingertip" and "Sundowning."

"The thing that I noticed is that in so many of these songs, there are really two protagonists and it's a couple. It doesn't have to be a man and a woman, but it made an awful lot of sense for there to be two vocalists," Hales says. "I didn't realize how well it was going to work."

Hales recorded "Magnetic North" over a five-day period at his home studio, The Box (named so because it's as big as a cardboard box, he jokes) and at The Bank, a friend's studio in Burbank. The core musicians were Hales, his brother and drummer/percussionist David Price.

"The Bank is fantastic because it's just festooned with marvelous instruments," he says. "I said, `Somewhere in the space of these days, we're just going to go on this crazy musical mining mission to find it' and we just went nuts. We worked really hard, we worked fast, we'd grab an instrument, find an arrangement and go, `that sounds fantastic, record that.'"

Unlike 2007's "Memory Man," which had a more aggressive rock slant, "Magnetic North" favors a lush, layered sound. "Brian Wilson is my lifelong musical hero, so [his influence] is probably just in there all the time," Hales says. "In some ways, the album is orchestrally arranged, even though we don't use orchestral arrangements, which is a kind of `Pet Sounds' aesthetic in some ways. I wanted to make an enjoyable, accessible, instantly gratifying record."

"Magnetic North" is short on snare drums and electric guitars. "This is a back-from-the-brink kind of record, so there's a sense that it should have a warmer exterior," Hales explains. "That's why it's acoustic instruments."

Hales further switched things up by tracking his vocals at the same time as he recorded his keyboards instead of the traditional ways of recording the vocals last. "I'd always be amazed that I played the piano completely differently on stage than I did in the studio and I sang completely differently," he says. "I like a lot of how that was and I thought, how do I get that when we record?"

Despite his proclamation to quit touring, Hales will take to the road for short stints for "Magnetic North" if, for nothing else, to give his latest collection of kids their due. "These songs, quite apart from me as their guardian, really want to be out in the world," he says. "They don't want to be hidden away. These songs are demanding it. I feel like I'm being pushed along by these little spindly hands." And, like any good parent, all he wants is what's best for his children.

Product Description

2010 album from British singer/songwriter Matt Hales AKA Aqualung. . Magnetic North is Aqualung's first album of all new material since relocating from England to sunny Los Angeles last fall. All 12 tracks were co-written and produced by Aqualung. Co-writers include: Ben Hales, his brother, his wife, and the legendary Paul Buchanan (of the Blue Nile). Guest vocal appearances include: Kelly Sweet, Alison Sudol (A Fine Frenzy), Sara Bareilles, and others.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnetic Music from Aqualung/Matt Hales, April 22, 2010

By 

Diego Rodrigues (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Magnetic North (Audio CD)

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
- Alan Cohen

Aqualung is Back !
Either you are a diehard fan of Matt and his "sad/poignant lyricism" or a new listener it is nearly impossible to ignore his latest record.

"New Friend" and "Fingertip" echoes the Britt Invasion's grooved-goofiness of falling in love - these songs makes you want to dance, laugh, and hopefully think beyond its guilt-free appeal.

"Sundowning" is that classic Aqualung tale of lost love with a string of hope hidden in every verse. This is a haunting, straightforward song that might translate into words that familiar feeling so many times unspoken of. The music is beautiful and the harmonic choices are the highlights of the album.

I was surely surprised with "Hummingbird"- it resonance previous songs and yet have an adventurous quality to it that showcases Matt's growth as a musician and songwriter.

"Lost" and "Magnetic North" deserves a special mention. I personally admire Aqualung's ability to balance earnest poetry and realistic observations of the fragility of love - these songs are Masterpieces by any account. Aqualung "stays true" to his craft and to his fans; this two songs alone are worth buying the Album, listening again and again, and showing it to friends/lovers as a statement of what real music should sound like.

"Time Moves Slow" has a Bossa Nova facet that caught me off guard (I am Brazilian) - it made me think of "Samba de Uma Nota Só"; simple yet quite amusing. This song makes a great argument for refined and intimate music versus the grandiose noise most radios play these days.

Much has been said about "Remember Us" (thanks to Grey's Anatomy) and all I can say is that if you had the "privilege" of loving and have your heart broken you will appreciate this great reframe - melancholy aside.

Magnetic North sounds as a compilation of Matt's greatest songs and yet is a fresh and original product that stays true to honest and intelligent songwriting from beginning to end. Matt was truly adventurous and the result is a great album that won't disappoint Aqualung's followers and will hopefully gather the deserved attention and appreciation from new fans.

5.0 out of 5 stars Time Moves Slow Moves Me, January 9, 2012

By 

Gayle (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Magnetic North (MP3 Download)

Time Moves Slow is my musical equivalent to falling in love: I haven't even listened to the other songs on this album, because for some reason, this song hit me: first I was charmed, then obsessed. All I do is think of this song and hear this song in my head all day and can't wait til the next time I can listen to it. I played it one evening as part of my ipod cooking playlist and woke with it playing in my head the next morning. This doesn't happen often, and when it does, it's awesome: falling in love with a particular arrangement of voice, words, and music. The voice is just rough enough around the edges to not be perfect and boring. The emotional energy comes indirectly and therefore more powerfully. The piano is a galloping series of chords that belie the Time Moving Slow theme. Don't know exactly what kind of archetypal energy this composition cracked into: the traveler in me, the eternal hapless seeker, I don't know. I love the idea of resting my bones and needing only the great unknown. It's sad and lonesome without being sad and lonely, maybe because of the hopeful upbeat. It's usually only one or two songs per band in a blue that I get this strong connection, so one song on an entire album merits the album, in my book. Nicely done, Aqualung.

2.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing album, August 29, 2011

By 

Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Magnetic North (Audio CD)

I've been a huge fan of Matt Hales a/k/a Aqualung for many years, and I thought that he was poised for a major commercial breakthrough with the 2007 album "Memory Man", which sounded epic on many levels, and made me think this could be the next Coldplay-like breakthrough. Alas, for whatever reason it didn't happen. Not sure what that did to Matt Hales, but since then, things have not gone quite the way I expected.

First there was the curious 2008 "Words & Music" release, which brought some previously released songs in a new setting, along with 3 or 4 new songs, but which left me scratching my head. Then in early 2010 cames this release "Magnetic North", which I didn't even bother to review at the time, just to give you an idea of my disappointment. For whatever reason, I was strolling around Amazon and came upon this, so now I can simply tell you that "Magnetic North" is flat from start to finish, not a single memorable song on the entire album. What has happened to Matt Hales?

I have no idea where Aqualung will go from here, if anywhere (I'm not holding up much hopes). That said, the band toured the US quite heavily in the 2006-2007 years, including in the often-forgotten (by UK acts) Midwest here, and I saw them a couple of times. Since then, pretty much no opportunity to see them live, which I would love to, even though I was disappointed with this album. But really, if you like Aqualung, stick to the earlier albums, none more so than "Memory Man", which is a classic in my opinion.