"Shiver" is the first single from
Natalie Imbruglia's third album,
Counting Down the Days, her first full-length since 2001's
White Lilies Island. "Shiver" isn't as immediately appealing as
Imbruglia's breakthrough, "Torn" (nothing she's done since has been), but its mixture of strummed acoustic guitar and feathery keyboard swells is suggestive of it nonetheless.
Imbruglia is an engaging vocalist, so she handles "Shiver"'s lightweight sentiments well enough. She's equally appealing over the strings and stately melody of "When You're Sleeping" as well as the weightier songwriting of the old
Crowded House track "Pineapple Head." This is well-crafted, entirely harmless music perfectly suited for adult alternative radio. Look out,
Dido,
Nat's back. [Shiver included the album and radio edit versions of the single, and its video.]