AQUALUNG Magnetic North (2010 UK 12-track CD album - '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, uncynical 'Fingertip', and 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' newborn daughter. In their own way, each song sweeps the listener up in its arms and takes him or her on a musical journey!)