(2015) Aqualung - 10 Futures



Review:
The seventh studio album from the British singer/ songwriter, released after five years of retirement, during which Matt Hales (aka Aqualung) focused solely on his career as a producer, 10 Futures looks to the past on its opening salvo, the evocative, loop -driven “Tape to Tape.” Built around the clicks and spins of a rewinding cassette tape — analog sounds play a large role in 10 Futures, and the ambient city soundscapes and chirping birds feel as much a part of the songs as the melodies do — and featuring the soulful falsetto of guest vocalist Joel Compass, it’s a fitting re-introduction for an artist who spent time away from the front of the house behind the mixing board, and it’s also the most playful song on the album. The slow-burn follow-up, “Eggshells,” is more indicative of the LP as a whole, pairing deep, trip-hop-kissed beats with emotionally charged vocals; in this case it’s a deeply Auto-Tuned Hales locking horns with English soul singer Lianne La Havas. “Be Beautiful Feat. Luke Sital-Singh,” “Hearts (Spinwheeloscillate) Feat. Prides,” and the worldbeat-blasted, Josef Salvat-assisted “Shame on Me” flirt with Coldplay-infused Brit-pop, but much of 10 Futures sounds like the work of the man responsible for penning 2002’s “Strange & Beautiful.” Excessive James Blake-approved balladry aside, Hales’ acumen for production is on full display here, as 10 Futures is a marvel of meticulous engineering, and while the material doesn’t always live up to the sonic grandstanding, it never suffers because of it.
Rating 8.5/10

Tracklist:
01-01 Tape 2 Tape (feat. Joel Compass).flac
01-02 Eggshells (feat. Lianne La Havas).flac
01-03 Be Beautiful (feat. Luke Sital-Singh).flac
01-04 Seventeens.flac
01-05 New Low.flac
01-06 Clean (feat. Billy Pilgrim).flac
01-07 Hearts (Spinwheeloscillate) (feat. Prides).flac
01-08 Shame On Me (feat. Josef Salvat).flac
01-09 Everything.flac
01-10 To The Wonder (feat. Kina Grannis).flac


Summary:
Country: UK
Genre: Indie


Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~603-911 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits