Now in looking at the releases this week, I saw a whole lot of 'meh'. Not to say that there aren't some great albums that came out this week, I just didn't find any to be excited about and when looking at the others that I did not recognize and testing out some songs, nothing really screamed "review me!!!". Anyways, I remembered kind of liking Tunstall's 2004 single, and breakout hit, 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' mostly due to the creativity and realization that acoustic looping and one-(wo)man-band could be well received by the greater public. I loved this mostly due to my obsession with a certain Keller Williams (who comes out with a new album 'Kids' in a couple weeks that will most definitely be on this blog). But I digress.Anyways, Ms. Tunstall is not the most familiar artist to me other than that first single and I think I've heard clips of 'Suddenly I See' all over various TV shows and movie trailers. It has that kind of generic stock-photo quality of song that saturates media lately. Its not bad, but it also doesn't really stick out. Well now that you know about my prejudice to her work based on the little I've heard before, I'd like to say that when I did actually get the chance to listen to her album, I was pleasantly surprised. For the most part.
She definitely has the tendency to fall back on that stock-photo singer songwriter pop-ness between much better, solidly executed cousins to those filler songs. She really hits her stride when she embraces the beat a bit more. It seems that her voice gets more motivated as well to let a little bit of the gritty tones through that give the music a bit of a more unique feel than when she stays subdued, as heard on 'Push that Knot Away'. This track is one of the strongest with the same kind of foot stomping beat and acoustic guitar strumming that gave 'Black Horse' that sound I liked before. Also the thumping bass that drops in the bridge could make anyone at least be tempted to attempt their best air bass while bobbing their head. If I were her I'd keep exploring and working with this overall tone and sound than the bleached out electro-guitar pop of 'Glamour Puss'.
This is a difficult listen for me only in the sense that I know that I just want to keep hearing songs more along the lines of 'Push', 'Golden Frames', 'Come on, Get In', and 'Madame Trudeaux' where Tunstall seems more comfortable than maybe the more radio and MTV friendly sounds of '(Still a) Weirdo', her first single from the album.
Overall, I know theres a lot I like here with the more alt-country rock dancy songs beating out the more pure dance-guitar -pop-electronic ventures she seems to be split between. She just doesn't seem as comfortable with the latter as when she gets to have some fun with her guitar. She thrives when she gets to be herself as that floor stomping, guitar riffing, and soulful voiced songstress; unfortunately she only gets to do that for a handful of songs on the album.
KT Tunstall - 'Tiger Suit'-> 2.8/5
Watch her performing 'Madame Trudeaux' live to see what the album could have been if it hadn't been so distracted with less stand-out filler songs.
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