Natalie Imbruglia finally came back to life with her fourth studio album "Come To Life" that took her almost four years to record. After the mixed reception of her previous album "Counting Down the Days", Imbruglia took her time to face the frustration of meeting her own expectations about any future music efforts. Obviously she managed to pull herself together and revive what's left of her career. Don't get me wrong, Imbruglia has had a few major hits, but four years of silence in today's music business is equivalent to suicide.
Anyway, "Come To Life" is out there and Natalie has done a great job. After a first listen I thought that the album was full of crap and deserved to go straight to oblivion. Honestly, I was really disappointed, but second chance should always be given and this time it just clicked to me. Indeed, "Come To Life" is beautiful in any possible way, you've got the ballads, the up-beat songs and the good old semi-romantic/semi-angry-at-you tunes. Natalie is bitchy, sweet and ironical and sounds better than ever. The album has something for almost every taste, ranging from dance-driven contemplations to soulful guitar-based emotional landscapes. Furthermore Imbruglia gracefully sways between genres, leaving any false pretensions far behind.
For the track and best choice for a pilot single "Want" Natalie has worked together with Christ Martin from Coldplay. Another Chris Martin collaboration is "Lukas" that had been recorded during Coldplay' sessions for their album "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends" and produced by Brian Eno. Martin has also worked on the song "Fun". Imbruglia takes part in writing most of the songs on "Come To Life" and since this is her first independent release she had additional freedom on the whole recording process. Congrats, Natalie, on coming to life!
Songs to hear: "Want", "Lukas", "Fun" and "WYUT"
Personal rating: 7/10
