White Lillies Island

It’s been four year’s since we’ve heard from Natalie Imbruglia—long enough to have finally gotten her ubiquitous 1998 hit “Torn” out of our heads—and now she’s back with her second album. The good news is there’s nothing on White Lillies Island so catchy we’ll be humming it for months to come, but the bad news is there’s nothing on White Lillies Island so catchy we’ll be humming it for months to come—kind of a double-edged sword for poor Natalie, we suppose, but the bottom line is her sophomore effort is little more than competent, uninspiring pop radio fodder. The music—a mix of earnest folk-rock (“That Day,” “Satellite”) and melodic, swirling pop (“Beauty On The Fire,” “Wrong Impression”)—occasionally cooks, but unfortunately it plays only a bit part. Imbruglia’s voice hogs the spotlight, forcing unflattering attention on her writing, which can charitably be described as ordinary. She’s depressed, she’s desperate, she’s frustrated, whatever—beyond her lusty good looks, there’s little here to make us care.