Since releasing her second album Drastic Fantastic in 2007, KT Tunstall has spent much of her time travelling the globe. Her itinerary of destinations-exotic included Greenland, India, New Zealand, Chile and Peru. Surely, I thought, such experiences would instil a greater sense of adventure in the singer-songwriter’s music? It seems not. Musically, the greatest departure on new album Tiger Suit is a brief foray into electronica.
Recorded with producer Jim Abbiss in Berlin’s famed Hansa Studios – and with co-writes courtesy of Linda Perry and Greg Kurstin – this is a slick, largely up-tempo, folk-pop collection, one concerned with relationship woes and the search for contentment in life. The tribal hollering of ‘Uummannaq Song’ immediately indicates a desire to push beyond the tame sounds of yesteryear and produce something a little more outlandish. However, we’re soon back on familiar ground with the rock strut of ‘Glamour Puss’. There is a similar guitar-led vibrancy to ‘Fade Like A Shadow’ and the glam-stomping ‘Come On, Get In’.
The analogue synths make their first substantial appearance on ‘Push That Knot Away’, as affirmative folk-rock segues into a big beat-powered break. ‘Lost’ sounds like those mid-’90s hook-ups between Beth Orton and The Chemical Brothers, while ‘(Still A) Weirdo’ – all twitchy electronics, whistled melody and babble of acoustic guitar – provides for the album’s most intriguingly alien moment. Elsewhere, Seasick Steve brings his ragged, bluesy murmur to ‘Golden Frames’. Overall, however, whilst the eleven tracks exhibit the odd flash of danger, Tiger Suit remains more safari holiday than whole-hearted journey into music’s wilds.
KEY TRACK: ‘PUSH THAT KNOT AWAY’