Natalie Imbruglia returns

It was in the late 1990s when beautiful Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia first made her mark with emotion-filled power ballads like Torn, Smoke, Wishing I was There, Big Mistake, That Day, Do You Love? Beauty on Fire and Wrong Impression. While her songs also dealt with feminine angst and problematic male-female relationships, the glamorous looks of the former model and soap opera star put her in direct contrast with then girl of the moment Alanis Morissette. It is generally believed that her being different was what gained her a huge following all over the world.

Then, after two albums, the phenomenally-successful Left of the Middle followed by White Lilies Islands and one movie, the James Bond spoof Johnny English where she played Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson’s sexy assistant, nothing more was heard about Natalie Imbruglia. That is until a few weeks ago when she released her third album. It turns out she had gotten married to Daniel Johns of the also Australian rock group Silverchair and probably took some time off from her career to be with her husband.

So now, nearly three years after White Lilies Island, Imbruglia is back with Counting Down the Days, a veritable gem of light, guitar-based rock songs that is such a dream to listen to. Honestly, getting to this album after the enjoyable experience of Something to Be by Rob Thomas makes me feel like I am in pop music heaven. It feels almost unbelievable that there is this new album by a big-name female artist and she is not singing R&B with all those curly adlibs or screaming her lungs out. And the great thing about it is that we all know that Imbruglia can do it.

Is this the influence of Daniel Johns? Of course, his group Silverchair is not exactly known for soft rock music so I do not know what made Imbruglia choose to go for a quieter sound with lots of strings. Why, she even keeps her vocals down by a decibel or two. Maybe the reason is probably the contentment she feels over having at last settled down. This happiness is also mirrored in the songs included in the album, most of which are her own compositions. She has some heartbroken tracks like Counting Down the Days and Come on Home but the other tunes are by someone who is happily lovelorn.

Starting Today says Every day you give me reason not to walk away.

I walk a mile with a smile, she sings in Shiver.

Fallen three times in a row/waking up with vertigo/ but you were there to break my fall/ before I had to face it all, goes I Won’t Be Lost. Sanctuary has a verse that goes I wanna lead you and follow you/ I wanna hold you and keep it true/ so many things that I wanna do with you, and a refrain that repeats, I want to be your sanctuary.

But the one that really says it to the max is the song Perfectly. Every fall, every crash/ everything that was never meant to be/ all the perfect little things I can’t release/ all the nights every time/ we were just about to leave/ now makes no sense to me/ but it seems when we fall/ that’s when we land perfectly. If that is not by someone very much in love, I do not know what is.

And in case you are interested, Daniel returns the sentiments with the one song he wrote for Natalie’s album. It is titled Satisfied and it says, Something high it keeps me here/ something that keeps us together/ within the storm I fail to hear/ you keep me dry despite the weather/ I don’t need to feel this way for you/ but I do and I feel satisfied.

Ordinarily, words like these will cause an album to be described as sweet and when they come in one cut after another, the songs acquire the tendency to sound alike. But that might just be its purpose, as the whole album flows easily up to the end. Besides, Imbruglia in a more confident rock stance, wisely keeps the music on the edge, firmly grounded but ready to break out in full power at the snap of a finger.