Jones, Bridget (10 November 2010). "Fraser experiments with Flags". Fairfax New Zealand . Retrieved 22 February 2013.

STRANGE AND BEAUTIFUL: "2002 09 22 Official Scottish Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com/. As early as 2004, Hales began collaborating with other artists as a songwriter and producer. He co-wrote " UR" by Tiësto which featured his lead vocal, and was released as a single and featured on the album Just Be. [37] He worked with Leona Lewis on her album Echo in 2009, [ citation needed] and in 2010 he co-wrote songs appearing on albums by Brooke Fraser, [38] Christophe Willem, and Boyzone. [39] Indeed, if ‘side one’ contains the big grand opener and ‘the (parallel universe) hits’ then ‘side two’ is the introspective half, full of personal stories, life sketches and dedications to family and loved ones. Each song is beautifully worked, with some rather wonderful chamber pop arrangements. On returning to England from the USA and making a new home in the South West, Hales was reacquainted with an old piano (which even came with vomit stains from prior family use). That piano adorns the inside cover sleeve of the album and proved to be the central tool in this record’s creation, with Hales composing sketch after sketch that eventually shaped themselves into the album's nine fabulous songs. ‘ Bad Dreams’, the album’s closer, is a masterpiece. It’s nearly 8 minutes long and not a second wasted. Finally, just before the needle gravitates towards the centre, Hales whispers ‘so’, just as the record started.

Aqualung first came to attention in 2002 when the debut single ‘Strange and Beautiful (I’ll Put A Spell On You)’ became a surprise UK Top 10 after being discovered via a Volkswagen Beetle advert. While that song created a magnetic allure, the strength and versatility of Hales’ songwriting further enamoured audiences. The debut self-titled Aqualung album reached Gold status in recognition of over 100,000 domestic sales, while the brighter symphonic scope of his second album, Still Life, led to another chart hit with ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’. By the time Aqualung’s third album, Memory Man emerged, glowing comparisons had been made with everyone from Bacharach to Radiohead via The Beach Boys, while his music has featured in ‘Twilight’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Well, isn't that interesting? I love articles like this, and I will be forwarding this one to Matt Hales so he can have a gentle laugh or a shrug of the shoulders. Ramirez, Erika (22 August 2012). "Lianne La Havas, Reps Talk 'Is Your Love Big Enough?' Album & Stardom". Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved 22 February 2013. Brownlee, Bill (2 April 2008). "Review: Hotel Cafe Tour". The Kansas City Star . Retrieved 21 February 2013.

Cairns, Dan (29 October 2022). "The best albums of 2022 so far". The Times . Retrieved 5 November 2022. Collaborating with all kinds of artists - including Lianne La Havas, Bat For Lashes, Mika, Tom Chaplin, Jason Mraz, For King and Country and countless others – Hales’ hectic yet immensely rewarding schedule resulted in huge acclaim, including both an Ivor Novello and a Grammy. No wonder, then, that aside from occasionally briefly resurfacing, Aqualung remained in hibernation. James, Nicole (21 February 2013). "Lianne La Havas Is Winning British Soul Right Now". Fuse . Retrieved 22 February 2013.Streaming has been doing some strange things to music, you may have noticed. None of this has been lost on Matt Hales. After all, not only does he make and release music as Aqualung, but he also writes and produces music for some very successful streaming artists, so he knows the score you might say. Yet on Aqualung’s latest album Dead Letters, he’s not bothered one bit about conforming to streaming conventions. As those songs evolved into a catalogue of material, Hales reunited with some of the team behind the second Aqualung album, ‘Still Life’, for sessions at Real World near Bath, where that album was recorded. Those demos were finessed over the course of two years with some of his trusted collaborators: his brother Ben Hales, his wife Kim Oliver, and Matt Vincent-Brown, his bandmate in his pre- Aqualung projects The 45s and Ruth.

BRIGHTER THAN SUNSHINE: "2003 10 09 Official Scottish Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com/. Vaziri, Aidin (9 November 2012). "Lianne La Havas' dreams are coming true". Hearst Corporation . Retrieved 22 February 2013. Still, it’s unlikely Aqualung’s gentle ballads will trouble the top of the Billboard charts (hey, Matt did get close enough, in 2003 ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’ reached 32 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart in the U.S.). Matthew Nicholas Hales (born 17 January 1972) [1] is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer who has been performing professionally under the name Aqualung since the early 2000s. [2] Aqualung is best known in the UK for his song " Strange and Beautiful", which was featured on a television advertisement for the new Volkswagen Beetle during the summer of 2002 [3] and went on to become a top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart later that year. [4] In the United States, Aqualung is also known for the song " Brighter Than Sunshine", which had considerable airplay and was used in the film A Lot Like Love [5] and various television spots. Hales has released seven albums as Aqualung. The most recent, Dead Letters, appeared in 2022. Murphy, Lauren (5 March 2010). "Music Review-Boyzone-Brother". The Irish Times . Retrieved 22 February 2013.A quirky little thing here, is that the cover of Dead Letters will tell you side one isn’t done. But it is. Eliezer, Christie (16 November 2011). "Amy Meredith: new international management deal, split from Sony". The Music Network . Retrieved 22 February 2013. Aqualung first came to attention in 2002 when the debut single ‘Strange & Beautiful (I’ll Put A Spell On You)’ became a surprise UK Top 10 after being discovered via a Volkswagen Beetle advert. While that song created a magnetic allure, the strength and versatility of Hales’ songwriting further enamoured audiences. The debut self-titled Aqualung album reached Gold status in recognition of over 100,000 domestic sales, while the brighter symphonic scope of his second album, ‘Still Life’, led to another chart hit with ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’. By the time Aqualung’s third album, ‘Memory Man’ emerged, glowing comparisons had been made with everyone from Bacharach to Radiohead via The Beach Boys, while his music has featured in ‘Twilight’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.