Listen to Tunstall's hits and it's easy to understand why she gets bracketed with the girl-next-door dumbness of Katie Melua. The irritatingly bouncy "Suddenly I See" from her '04 solo debut Eye To The Telescope was formulaic girl-pop chart froth that fitted the soundtrack of the vacuous The Devil Wears Prada like a glove. Opener "Little Favours" plays a similar role here, although it's also oddly reminiscent of Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up The Sun". Yet there's another side to the jaunty guitars and multi-tracked choruses that sometimes make Tunstall sound like she's singing an orange juice advert. The haunting world-folk of "White Bird" harks back to her days with Oi-Va-Voi ; the scratchy, blues stomp "Hold On" is a robust cousin of "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree", the best track on her debut; while "Beauty of Uncertainty" and the closer "Paper Aeroplane" are stark and moody etudes as far removed from, say, Dido as it's possible to get. NIGEL WILLIAMSON
Listen to Tunstall‘s hits and it’s easy to understand why she gets bracketed with the girl-next-door dumbness of Katie Melua. The irritatingly bouncy “Suddenly I See” from her ’04 solo debut Eye To The Telescope was formulaic girl-pop chart froth that fitted the soundtrack of the vacuous The Devil Wears Prada like a glove.
Opener “Little Favours” plays a similar role here, although it’s also oddly reminiscent of Sheryl Crow‘s “Soak Up The Sun”. Yet there’s another side to the jaunty guitars and multi-tracked choruses that sometimes make Tunstall sound like she’s singing an orange juice advert.
The haunting world-folk of “White Bird” harks back to her days with Oi-Va-Voi ; the scratchy, blues stomp “Hold On” is a robust cousin of “Black Horse and The Cherry Tree”, the best track on her debut; while “Beauty of Uncertainty” and the closer “Paper Aeroplane” are stark and moody etudes as far removed from, say, Dido as it’s possible to get.
NIGEL WILLIAMSON
