Three years on from her sophomore album and six years since she burst onto the scene with her massive-selling debut, Scotland’s KT Tunstall returns with a new long-player. In it, she adds a dancey, electronic vibe to her familiar folk-rock sound. Whether this is a bid to fit in with current industry darlings like Ellie Goulding, or simply because she fancied a slight shift in direction, the result is certainly a bit poppier than her previous outings.
That’s not to say she is going all Katy Perry on us. This is still very recognisably KT Tunstall, with her delicious rasp and acoustic guitar, but things here are often more conventional than we might expect. For instance, The Entertainer and Lost are ballads-by-numbers in comparison to Tunstall’s usually interesting structuring, while Glamour Puss’s dance-pop just feels a bit generic.
However, the perky acoustic melody and delicate xylophone of lead single, Fade Like a Shadow, is a fine example of KT Tunstall doing pop excellently, and it’s no coincidence that Tiger Suit’s highlights come when she further pushes her creative boundaries. Push That Knot Away, for example, is awesome in its combination of dance-beat, acoustic lick and body-shuddering bluesy bassline fuzz. Similarly, the vocal of Madam Trudeaux swaggers and struts its way marvellously through an infectious tune.
Tiger Suit therefore proves that KT Tunstall is at her best when sidestepping the clichés that already litter our charts. This is a woman who can write insanely catchy tunes while remaining interesting and very likeable. If anything, pop singers should be attempting to sound more like her, rather than the other way round.
