Male - Natalie Imbruglia LP
Natalie Imbruglia landed on an interesting concept for her 5th album: take 12 songs written by male singer/songwriters and recast them as feminine. For Imbruglia, this means reviving the hazy focus of her global blockbuster Torn - a feel created with soft, strummed guitars and clear vocals, a sound that suits a middle-aged singer as comfortably as it does a young one, perhaps even a touch better than. There are covers of Daft Punk, Death Cab for Cutie, and Iron & Wine, but she grafts a Mumford & Sons folk-stomp onto the Cure's Friday I'm in Love, then gently pushes Tom Petty's The Waiting towards a tapped folk rhythm. Everything is so sweet and light that it's difficult to discern whether Imbruglia's songs were selected for reasons more sophisticated than the fact that they possessed a pleasant tune. Despite this, the very concept of Male suggests there might be a certain philosophical undertow to the album. Imbruglia picks songs where sexuality is incidental; the chosen love songs are easily retooled for the opposite sex. This safety in song selection and production means that Male certainly doesn't have the bite of Tori Amos' 2001 album Strange Little Girls, a record that wears its sexual politics proudly. But Imbruglia has never been an ambitious artist; she's always been a sweet, pleasant crooner, and Male plays to these very strengths.
Natalie Imbruglia landed on an interesting concept for her 5th album: take 12 songs written by male singer/songwriters and recast them as feminine. For Imbruglia, this means reviving the hazy focus of her global blockbuster Torn - a feel created with soft, strummed guitars and clear vocals, a sound that suits a middle-aged singer as comfortably as it does a young one, perhaps even a touch better than. There are covers of Daft Punk, Death Cab for Cutie, and Iron & Wine, but she grafts a Mumford & Sons folk-stomp onto the Cure's Friday I'm in Love, then gently pushes Tom Petty's The Waiting towards a tapped folk rhythm. Everything is so sweet and light that it's difficult to discern whether Imbruglia's songs were selected for reasons more sophisticated than the fact that they possessed a pleasant tune. Despite this, the very concept of Male suggests there might be a certain philosophical undertow to the album. Imbruglia picks songs where sexuality is incidental; the chosen love songs are easily retooled for the opposite sex. This safety in song selection and production means that Male certainly doesn't have the bite of Tori Amos' 2001 album Strange Little Girls, a record that wears its sexual politics proudly. But Imbruglia has never been an ambitious artist; she's always been a sweet, pleasant crooner, and Male plays to these very strengths.
Natalie Imbruglia landed on an interesting concept for her 5th album: take 12 songs written by male singer/songwriters and recast them as feminine. For Imbruglia, this means reviving the hazy focus of her global blockbuster Torn - a feel created with soft, strummed guitars and clear vocals, a sound that suits a middle-aged singer as comfortably as it does a young one, perhaps even a touch better than. There are covers of Daft Punk, Death Cab for Cutie, and Iron & Wine, but she grafts a Mumford & Sons folk-stomp onto the Cure's Friday I'm in Love, then gently pushes Tom Petty's The Waiting towards a tapped folk rhythm. Everything is so sweet and light that it's difficult to discern whether Imbruglia's songs were selected for reasons more sophisticated than the fact that they possessed a pleasant tune. Despite this, the very concept of Male suggests there might be a certain philosophical undertow to the album. Imbruglia picks songs where sexuality is incidental; the chosen love songs are easily retooled for the opposite sex. This safety in song selection and production means that Male certainly doesn't have the bite of Tori Amos' 2001 album Strange Little Girls, a record that wears its sexual politics proudly. But Imbruglia has never been an ambitious artist; she's always been a sweet, pleasant crooner, and Male plays to these very strengths.
