Listening to Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia's latest album "White Lilies Island," is as climactic as watching water drip from a faucet. After Imbruglia's first hit "Torn" became an international hit with her debut album "Left of the Middle" in 1998, radio listeners watched the soap opera actress turn into radio icon - a one hit wonder that is. With the release of her sophomore album, which came out yesterday, one can't quite figure out which career she should have stuck with.
"White Lilies Island" is a straight-shot album with songs no different from the next. The album is packed with twelve songs - with probably four that stand out as listen-worthy.
The album as a whole is good for a rainy day. A day meant to listen to songs about "Butterflies" and "Sunlight." But "Come September," or perhaps your second listen, the album won't be able to avoid the slush pile of CDs to sell back.
On the bright side, Imbruglia's semi-unique voice helps demonstrate her talents at songwriting. But one can't help wonder where these talents would take her if she wrote music with more sincerity.
The lyrics of this album are hardly convincing. Imbruglia told her RCA label it was hard making this album because she had to take a topic that was already written about a thousand times and find a new twist. Her twist resulted in lyrics like "Swallow purple terror candy, don't forget to breathe."
The album's first single "Wrong Impression" is one of the more upbeat songs on the album. The album isn't too impressive, but it isn't all that bad. The first track, "That Day," doesn't drop the ball on what the song is supposed to be about, but after a few listens it proves to be the best song on the album.
The disenchanting part of this album is Imbruglia's attempt to write songs about life's hardships and loneliness. The result is as convincing as finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - it's never going to happen.
Perhaps Imbruglia indeed has given us the "Wrong Impression," with her latest album. The listener doesn't know what the artist is singing about or why for that matter.
Imbruglia seems to have done it all - acting and singing. The most exciting aspect of her career will be figuring out what she's going to do next.
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