Tunstall neither drastic nor fantastic on new album

By Kelsey Proud

Published Sept. 21, 2007

With a title like Drastic Fantastic, I expected KT Tunstall's latest album to be filled with extreme chord progressions, searing vocals and a smorgasbord of musical experimentation. Unfortunately, I couldn't find either of the enthralling adjectives its title suggests.

In the place of something truly remarkable is a selection of 11 tracks firmly grounded in the same formula of strong acoustic guitar, sparingly clever lyrics and toe-tapping rhythms we've come to expect from Tunstall.

The album begins with "Little Favours," a little ditty that plays with major and minor notes. The juxtaposition of the tones suggests doubt and leaves the listener wondering if Tunstall really does mean it when she says "I really do love you."

Skipping over the uneventful third cut, "If Only," Tunstall finally starts to break out the good china with "White Bird." It's a lovely acoustic piece, and Tunstall gets back to the realm of metaphorical lyrics layered with softly driving percussion instruments and haunting vocals: Right where she's at her best.

Following that mellow bit is the powerful "Funnyman." Tunstall asks, "Do you remember that night/When I had to play your angel/Saving your soul?" in a song that seems to have been written to be played loudly. "Funnyman" would be perfectly at home in a big outdoor venue in the American Southwest with its ethereal echoed vocals and almost tribal use of rhythm and instrumental depth. If you listen closely, you'll even hear the innovative use of a ukulele.

Which brings us to the "hit" track, "Hold On," or as I like to call it, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree Two." Just as Tunstall started to impress on this album, it all starts to go downhill with this cheap rehash of her previous smash. With the heavy use of a bass drum and call-and-repeat lyrical structure, it really plays like the lovechild of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and a minor-key version of the opening theme of the classic childhood television show "Fraggle Rock."

Drastic Fantastic keeps going drastically wrong after "Hold On" with the oddly perky "Hopeless" and the tackily pissed-off "I Don't Want You Now."

The non-descript and cliché-ridden "Saving My Face" follows with something so generic and decidedly un-fantastic that it could be the song rolling at the end of a sequel to "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." It's so safe both lyrically and musically that it would probably get a lower rating than the movie it would be hitched to.

Fortunately, things pick up with the certainly beautiful "Beauty of Uncertainty." In a soothing low voice, Tunstall croons, "I need a mirror/In the eyes of a man/I need no protection/From my bullet-proof plan." When Tunstall gets back to this slower, deeper form, as in "White Bird" before, she finds her sound, and she should stay there more often.

Tunstall does stay on that same theme of slinky and sultry for the rest of the album with "Someday Soon" and the closing "Paper Aeroplane," the latter of which artfully concludes the album with thoughtful lyrics and gorgeous use of the harmonium and mellotron for a unique harmony.

The album jacket is in wordless comic-book form and requires interpretation of the images to understand the songs and interpretation, even after my attempt at careful study seemed fruitless.

What people will have the most difficulty interpreting, though, is why Tunstall chose to title her third album as she did. Although it has its high points, Tunstall should probably attempt to make something a little less drastically average and try for something a bit more fantastic.