It would be easy for Natalie Imbruglia to spend the rest of her career trading on the legacy of “Torn”. Instead, Algorithm finds her doing pretty much the opposite: making a record that sounds interested in where she is now, rather than where she was nearly thirty years ago.
Dropping today, the album sees Imbruglia leaning into synth-pop, disco and electronic textures, but there’s plenty going on beneath the surface. The songs deal with self-doubt, identity, expectation and the slightly messier business of figuring yourself out. There’s a sense that she’s making music because she wants to, rather than because she needs to live up to an idea of what Natalie Imbruglia should sound like.
“Beautiful Love”, which closes the album, is a good example. Co-written with Fraser T Smith and Gary Lightbody, it takes some fairly heavy emotional territory and turns it into something bright, expansive and built for the dancefloor. The message is less about having everything figured out and more about getting comfortable with the person you’ve become.
Elsewhere, “Debbie” opens with layered vocals and sleek synths, “Catastrophe” brings a disco-pop bounce to the subject of destructive habits, while “Who Dimmed The Lights” strips things back for one of the album’s more affecting moments. “Endgame” tackles the familiar trap of chasing perfection when perhaps the better option is simply being present.
Following “Upside Down”, “Algorithm” and “Just Drive”, the album arrives with Imbruglia firmly steering the project herself.
She’ll be celebrating with a run of intimate record-store dates from 4 September, including Leeds, London, Kingston and Brighton, before heading to Madrid to headline Brava on 19 September.
Algorithm is out today.
