Imbruglia experiences sophomore slump
It doesn’t often happen that an unknown artist sweeps the music world, captivating fans everywhere. Yet in 1998 that phenomenon happened to Natalie Imbruglia, whose debut multi-platinum album “Left Of Middle” propelled her to star status via her sole hit “Torn.”
However what often does happen is the infamous sophomore album blight, where the second album falls short of expectations as compared to the first. As Alanis Morisette and No Doubt fell victim, so does Natalie, and hard.
“White Lilies Island” offers nothing more than the ubiquitous pop songs collated within the same communist soundscapes that have watered down the pop genre in last few years. Sure, this album could be heralded for being Imbruglia’s attempt at freeing herself from the Morisette clone image, or even an effort towards more serious music, but let’s be fair.
What Imbruglia brings to the table after a 5 year hiatus is the workings of standard pop arrangements that run seamless through the listener’s ear. The album is so homogenized that I had difficulty deciphering one song from the next.
“Wrong Impression,” the first single off the LP, is ear candy anyone would fall victim to. She sings, “Didn’t want to leave you with the wrong impression/ Didn’t want to leave you with my last confession/ Of love.” Appealing, but strangely similar to her lone hit of 1998, “Torn.”
It is obvious that Imbruglia struggles to come up with a clear cut hit, but the only other song that is single worthy is “Sunlight;” a melodramatic tune about coming out of your shell and enjoying life. With lyrics like, “Did you ever feel sunlight on your face?/ Did you ever taste clouds?/ Did you ever touch space?/ Did you ever truly live?” it is hard to absorb what her point is. These lyrics are directionless, flat, uninspiring words that seem to have been ripped from her diary where My Little Pony still lives.
The album was written or co-written by Imbruglia and enlisted a slew of A-list producers including Gary Clark (K.D. Lang), Pat Leonard (Madonna), Ian Stanley (Tori Amos), and Pascal Gabriel (New Order) to make her “vision a reality.”
“Making this album was like a slow-dripping tap,” she recalls in a press release. “It often took months to write a song I liked.”
Such perfection does have its rewards, but on “White Lilies Island” there are none. Instead she perfects ever nook and cranny thus leaving a feeling of being through a car wash. There is no dirtiness to the album, no spontaneity, just one hour of the same thing the record industry has been spewing out for years.
Mark F. Bonner