Friday 1 October 2010

ALBUM REVIEW: KT Tunstall, Tiger Suit

KT Tunstall was tossed into the limelight by Jools Holland five years ago; the Fife singer-songwriter's third album should make an even longer-lasting impression.


KT became famous playing folky acoustic pop, but Tiger Suit represents a directional shift for Brit and Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish songstress. KT calls it ‘nature techno’ due to its mix of organic instrumentation and dance-friendly textures.

Recorded at Berlin's legendary Hansa Studios, the inventive follow-up to 2007's platinum selling ‘Drastic Fantastic’ merges raspy folk with campfire rhythms. Tiger Suit sees KT encompass a more edgy feel and bolder musical styles.

Album opener Uummannaq Song named after a town in Greenland captures the change in style with backdrop of keyboard drone, simmering snake rattles, a tribal-cry hook and Afrobeat guitar. KT rocks with Madame Trudeaux's swaggering blues.

There’s a maturity in her voice, confidently exploring a range of pop with alt-folk. She confirms her ability to pen catchy yet credible pop hits with reflective first single (Still a) Weirdo, highly infectious Come on Get In and urgent, Fade like a Shadow.

Seasick Steve adds a broody hum of guitar on Golden Frames and there's a bluesy feel, a darker complexity in the driven twang of Push That Knot Away.

Tiger Suit still plays to KT’s strengths as a tunesmith and perceptive lyricist, and features more up-to-the-minute ingredients than her previous work, with some tracks harnessing electronic beats to her acoustic guitar.

This new album reveals her as supremely confident with her studio arsenal, and richness to the songs gives this record a lot more depth than its predecessors.

If you love music, whether it is blues, rock, pop or dance, you will adore Tiger Suit.

Track listing:

1. Uummannaq Song

2. Glamour Puss

3. Push That Knot Away

4. Difficulty

5. Fade Like A Shadow

6. Lost

7. Golden Frames

8. Come On, Get In

9. (Still A) Weirdo

10. Madame Trudeaux

11. The Entertainer

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