2 of 4

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 3

rhythm and blues drive makes it worlds apart from the opening number, a style that rivals the likes of Bjork for the quirkiness of its tempo, but retains a slick sanity that our favourite Icelandic hobbit never quite manages to rein in. Around this point I'm starting to think, well maybe there is nothing that new here, but not everyone needs to break new ground, its often enough to say "its not what you do (especially if you are pretty much doing what everyone else is) it's the way that you do it." With that in mind there is no denying the panache of the opening two numbers and I'm quietly confident for what's to follow.

And what follows is the sparser "Under the Weather" and KT's voice seems to take on a youthful aspect and sounds not too dissimilar to Suzanne Vega in its approach but set apart by her Scottish burr in the voice and the willingness to beef the music up from folk to a laid back rock dynamic in the middle eight. "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree" another up and coming single carries us off in a more gospel soul direction but its dominant acoustic guitar grounding it in the folk-pop sound that pervades the rest of the album. The infectious chorus gets right in your head, on even the first listening, and whilst that has your attention an electric guitar slowly powers the song up to a climactic finish.

"Miniature Disasters" is another minimal song, heavy on the percussion and again tipping its hat to gospel in the vocal department. This is however the first song that doesn't really hit home on first hearing, for me anyway. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, all the ingredients are there and on paper I'm sure it looked like a winner, but somehow the songs is less than the sum of its parts. Maybe its because the album has set itself a fairly high standard just in these first few numbers but we can allow her a few less than brilliant moments.

There is a smooth late night quality to "Silent Sea" a richness of the voice, a laid back soul feel to the vocal delivery and a very spacey accompaniment on the guitar and drums that leaves lots of roam for the bewitching and versatile delivery. The musically fairly ordinary "Universe and U" may not be any great shakes in many ways, but again the voice seems to make up for it. It is however the sort of song that the likes of Christina Aguilera would die to have a shot at, a song that really is designed to promote the vocals above all else. That said she'd probably go totally over the top and murder it anyway

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Album reviews: Eye to the Telescope, by K T Tunstall ?
We want to hear your view. Write now!