Friday was a busy day for Natalie Imbruglia, who dropped her 7th studio album accompanied by an appearance on BBC Breakfast, signing at a record shop in Bury before an intimate album launch show at The Wardrobe in Leeds.
Algorithm is an album that Imbruglia has created independently, separating from the traditional route of record labels and distributors, instead creating a work that is intensely personal, with a narrative that she has felt completely in control of.
This is very much the story she tells the virtually sold-out crowd in the cosy Leeds venue. As she explains the songs, you can see that they tell stories in which the feelings run authentically deep.
Only Upside Down, Debbie and Beautiful Love feature from the new record, but there is a theme throughout these songs. She tells us of the struggles that they represent. Debbie tells us of the attempts to avoid bring herself down, being too pessimistic. Or as she charmingly puts it, in true Australian fashion “being a Debbie Downer”. Beautiful Love – by her own admission, her favourite on the record – is a confessional representation of the last few years of dealing with an ADHD diagnosis and perimenopause. Written alongside Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol) and Fraser T Smith, she tells us that she “talked their ears off for half a day” before Gary started capturing these thoughts and feelings. “Being open and vulnerable…that’s how you write a song,” she explains. As she realises she’s doing the same thing in this very room she jokes “Are we writing a song now?!”
Alongside the new music though, there’s space for her biggest hits, reinterpreted in acoustic fashion alongside Henrik Irgens and Nick Tsang. Wishing I Was There, Shiver and of course Torn. Nearly 30 years since her cover version made the Top 10 in the UK, it still sounds just as good, and Imbruglia clearly still relishes the response it gets. She thanks the crowd after this song, and someone shouts back “Thank You!”
“Are you kidding, thank you!” she says. “It’s my absolute pleasure. I love this shit!” It’s a warm and genuine interaction with fans who have been there since day 1, turning up again for day 1 of this new record.
We’re left with a quick Easter egg before the night is out. A track that will be a bonus on the deluxe edition of Algorithm – titled Bird of Paradise – is a song that, to be honest, could have made the first cut, but she’s saved it for us tonight, adding something unique and exclusive to close out the night.
It’s been a beautifully intimate, if short, 45 minute set. Imbruglia acknowledges this herself as she tells us that she “wishes all gigs could be this intimate”. I think most of the room feels the same, privileged to see a big star back on a small stage, pouring her heart out like an old friend.
Algorithm is out now.
Set list
Upside Down
Wishing I Was There
Debbie
Wrong Impression
Beautiful Love
Shiver
Torn
Bird of Paradise
