KT Tunstall

Taking direct cues from Norah Jones' sultry mid-tempo delivery, KT Tunstall is a young Scottish vocalist whose debut album Eye to the Telescope has been out in the UK for over a year. The album has been successful in England, at one point reaching number three on the pop charts and ultimately being nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. Tunstall was also recently nominated for three Brit Awards. While Tunstall is positioned as a singer/songwriter, she only wrote half of the songs on the debut by herself, and her most potent asset is her emotive, soulful delivery.

While the vocalist doesn't have a whole lot of range, the slightly melancholic tone of the album gives the music an emotional depth. Basic, folky rock, largely based on acoustic guitar, underlies her vocals throughout the album, and the pace never really gets beyond a gentle trot. Like Norah Jones, Tunstall possesses an atmospheric quality in her vocal delivery that makes her sound a bit more mature than her years. The music is wisely arranged to stay out of Tunstall's way, allowing the singer to explore the space and ultimately leaving the impression of a rich, young voice reaching for personal wisdom. Tunstall could really be one to watch. - Cory O'Malley

Perhaps it's inevitable that K.T. Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope will draw initial comparisons to Dido, since they're both female adult alternative singer/songwriters who bear a certain similarity in their vocal timbres. But as Tunstall's debut starts to unfold, those superficial connections fall away, as she reveals herself to be a soulful vocalist, a restless musician, and a serious songwriter. At times, she may be on the verge of being a little too serious, as her songs are tightly wound and earnest, two qualities that can seem slightly stuffy when her production has a glossy veneer, as it does on opening songs of the album. These cuts, while accomplished and enjoyable, paint Tunstall as a good but ordinary songwriter, halfway between Dido's elegantly sleepy soundscapes and Sheryl Crow's tuneful craft, which is an inaccurate impression, as the album quickly proves. About a third of the way in, the album kicks into gear and Tunstall is revealed as a kindred spirit of such eccentric contemporaries as Fiona Apple and Nelly Furtado. She's more straightforward than either Apple or Furtado, partially due to the album's overly slick production, but also in her sober, uncluttered songwriting, yet her musical instincts, along with her impassioned vocals, edge her out of the mainstream. Slower songs like "False Alarm" aren't sleepy; they have the lazy, jazzy undercurrents of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead, while faster cuts like the single "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" or "Suddenly I See" have an urgency that makes them compelling, despite the shiny production. But that production is the only drawback on Eye to the Telescope -- it certainly sounds good, it certainly sounds professional, but it may keep some listeners at a distance, since it requires that they look hard to find the unique songwriter beneath the glistening surface. And if they spend the time to really hear what's going on in Eye to the Telescope, they'll find a promising, satisfying debut. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide