Aqualung Returns to the States for Second Leg of North American Concert Tour

Aqualung, the musical brainchild of British prodigy Matt Hales, will return to the states for the second leg of a North American concert series beginning June 1 in Portland, Oregon (see itinerary following).

Aqualung is currently enjoying the growing success of Strange And Beautiful, Matt's first American album, and is scheduled for a pair of high- profile television appearances in July: "CBS Saturday Early Show" (Saturday, July 2) and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (Friday, July 8).

Also in New York on July 8, Aqualung is scheduled to appear at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe as part of the Live From Home benefit concert series, a benefit for Housing Works, Inc., a not-for-profit organization providing healthcare, housing, advocacy and other services to homeless and formerly homeless people with HIV and AIDS.

The young singer-songwriter drew raves from the stateside press during the first leg of his North American tour. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "The fragile feminine tilt of his voice recalled the hard shell of professionalism that once surrounded the profound vulnerability of the late Jeff Buckley."

Following a mesmerizing appearance at this year's SxSW Festival, Aqualung returned to the states to perform a series of North American concerts beginning with a performance at Amoeba Records in Los Angeles on April 22 and winding up at the Drake Hotel in Toronto on May 13.

"Brighter Than Sunshine," the first single from A Lot Like Love (Music From The Motion Picture), is a key song on the soundtrack from the Touchstone Pictures and Beacon Pictures romantic comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet.

Rolling Stone, in a four-star review of 'Strange And Beautiful' in its March 10th issue, wrote: "Uniting Radiohead-ish British rock and symphonic pop in the masterly mold of Burt Bacharach, the Beatles and the Beach Boys, tenor Hales delivers keenly focused keyboard-based drama that blows away all pretenders trailing in Coldplay's wake. 'Garden State' soundtrack fans, take note."

Entertainment Weekly rated the album an "A-," praising its " ... gorgeous, lo-fi Coldplay swoons by British balladeer Matt Hales, highlighted by the must-hear title track."

According to People magazine's three-star review, "Aqualung breathes a strange beauty into these atmospheric, keyboard-driven tracks with his choirboy tenor and sumptuous arrangements that at times achieve an almost classic grandeur."

With tracks remastered for its inaugural release in America, and song selection curated by Hales, 'Strange And Beautiful' provides a perfect introduction to the music of Aqualung, an impeccably cohesive collection culled from Aqualung's critically-acclaimed best-selling UK albums, Aqualung (2002) and Still Life (2003). American audiences may already be familiar with Aqualung's music through its appearances in such hit TV programs as "Smallville," "Nip/Tuck," and "The OC."

Strange And Beautiful includes Aqualung's breakthrough single, "Strange And Beautiful (I'll Put A Spell On You)," the mesmerizing track which first introduced Hales' music to the public in 2002 via an enormously successful Volkswagen Beetle television ad campaign. Powerful and enigmatic, the single version of "Strange And Beautiful," from Aqualung's self-titled debut album, hit the UK singles Top 10 (#7) that same year.

Strange And Beautiful features four other songs from Aqualung -- which hit #15 on the UK albums chart in October 2002 -- including that album's second single, "Good Times Gonna Come," and "If I Fall," the title track from Aqualung's double-disk EP.

  AQUALUNG TOUR DATES

   Jun 1    Portland, OR           Doug Fir Lounge
   Jun 3    Seattle, WA            Showbox Theatre
   Jun 4    Vancouver, BC          Richards On Richards
   Jun 6    San Francisco, CA      Great American MusicHall
   Jun 7    Los Angeles, CA        The Troubadour
   Jun 9    Tempe, AZ              The Clubhouse
   Jun 11   Salt Lake City, UT     Lo Fi Cafe
   Jun 14   Austin, TX             The Parish
   Jun 15   Dallas, TX             Gypsy Tea Room
   Jun 17   Birmingham, AL         City Lights Festival
   Jun 18   Atlanta, GA            Red Light Cafe
   Jun 19   Nashville, TN          Third & Lindsey
   Jun 21   Raleigh, NC            Local 506
   Jun 23   Columbus, OH           Little Brothers
   Jun 24   Cleveland, OH          House Of Blues
   Jun 25   Covington, KY          The Madhatter
   Jun 28   Annapolis, MD          Ram's Head
   Jun 29   Charlottesville, VA    Starr Hill Music Club
   Jun 30   Hoboken, NJ            Maxwell's
   Jul 4    Toronto, ONT           The Mod Club
   Jul 5    Montreal, QC           Sala Rossa
   Jul 6    Portland, ME           The Big Easy
   Jul 7    Providence, RI         The Call
   Jul 8    New York, NY           Housing Works Bookstore Cafe

SOURCE: Columbia Records

CONTACT: Media, Benny Tarantini, New York, +1-212-833-5858,
Benny.Tarantini@sonybmg.com, or Tour Press, Santa Monica, Sandee Gardner,
+1-310-449-2902, Sandee.Gardner@sonybmg.com, both of Columbia Records

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.aqualungmusic.com/