MORE ACCURATELY, NAPPING ON A PARK BENCH. A RECORD REVIEW

Aqualung
Strange and Beautiful
(Red Ink)

Thom Yorke has lost his voice. Once there was a time when the lead singer of Radiohead had a monopoly on that unique falsetto, the one that could at some times lull you into calmness and at other times whip you into frenzy, but now it seems that every British bloke wants to be new Yorke. And with his first stateside release, Aqualung, aka Matt Hales, chooses to be just another sound-a-like. Hales’ fourth album, Strange And Beautiful, a compilation of his previous three European releases, will inevitably garner him the Coldplay, Travis and Keane comparisons but Hales’ melancholic voice and sparse arrangements, like on "Falling Out of Love" and the titular song, become monotonous and repetitive. Granted Strange And Beautiful may be a somewhat accurate descriptor but ultimately the album sounds like something—or someone—you’ve heard before.