If looks could kill

Artist : Natalie Imbruglia
Album : Counting Down the Days
Label : Brightside Recordings
Rating : *** of *****
Standout tracks : Starting Today, Sanctuary, Come On Home

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin reportedly wrote Shiver, the second single off Parachutes, for Aussie belle Natalie Imbruglia. Martin was so smitten that his longing in Shiver sounded genuine.

Without a doubt, Imbruglia has the looks and the voice to send all straight men trembling to their knees. And with a voice this lovely who needs musical instruments?

So confident is Imbruglia in her voice that she commissioned only modest musical arrangements for Counting Down the Days.

The sonic canvass of Counting is made up only of a guitar, piano, cello and a few wind instruments. The results are gorgeous tracks that recall classic tunes from pop's greats.

A lengthy coda in Come On Home recalls the somber mood from The Smith's Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.

Imbruglia, however, seems torn between moving forward and looking back to her glowing past. Two songs, Starting Today and Perfectly, sound like carbon copies of her 1998 hit Torn. -- M. Taufiqurrahman