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KT Tunstall

Eye to the Telescope

  • AMG Review of Eye to the Telescope

    Amg
    Stephen Thomas Erlewine
    All Music Guide

    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.

You just have to watch out for the signs!
over 2 years ago

I just saw this show, Men In Tree, last night. It is the first episode. I live in Thailand so it's possible that we get the shows behine U.S. Men In Tree is about a romantic comedy-drama television series which talk about Relationship coach and best-selling author Marin Frist goes to a small town in Alaska for a conference about real love and the best ways to get married. After her own relation...

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My First
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

I got to work this morning and started the new year off in an awesome way. I received my first platinum album for KT Tunstall's album "Eye To The Telescope." Almost a year ago to the day (January 24th to be exact) I produced a show with her at Schubas in Chicago. It was the first show with Network LIVE (now Control Room) on which I worked quite a bit. I was a huge fan of KT's before she release...

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KT Tunstall: Eye To The Telescope
over 3 years ago

This album was recommended to me by my good friend "misshapenhead":http://mog.com/misshapenhead, and I have to say, he hit my wish-for-summer-sounds target dead center -- of all the discs I've previewed this week, this is the one I keep coming back to again and again.I dare you to listen to any of these songs and not smile and bob your head, or tap your foot, or even leap out of your hammock an...

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You just have to watch out for the signs!
over 2 years ago

I just saw this show, Men In Tree, last night. It is the first episode. I live in Thailand so it's possible that we get the shows behine U.S. Men In Tree is about a romantic comedy-drama television series which talk about Relationship coach and best-selling author Marin Frist goes to a small town in Alaska for a conference about real love and the best ways to get married. After her own relation...

More >
Alright, one more for the Road...
over 2 years ago

And here is a live session from AOL of "Stoppin the Lovin", one of my favorite tracks from "Eye to the Telescope"

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My First
over 2 years ago
Blog post image preview

I got to work this morning and started the new year off in an awesome way. I received my first platinum album for KT Tunstall's album "Eye To The Telescope." Almost a year ago to the day (January 24th to be exact) I produced a show with her at Schubas in Chicago. It was the first show with Network LIVE (now Control Room) on which I worked quite a bit. I was a huge fan of KT's before she release...

More >
KT Tunstall: Eye To The Telescope
over 3 years ago

This album was recommended to me by my good friend "misshapenhead":http://mog.com/misshapenhead, and I have to say, he hit my wish-for-summer-sounds target dead center -- of all the discs I've previewed this week, this is the one I keep coming back to again and again.I dare you to listen to any of these songs and not smile and bob your head, or tap your foot, or even leap out of your hammock an...

More >
under the weather
about 1 year ago

My anxiety/sadness is hardly ever an overall/blanket kind of thing but usually focuses on specific events that I fear, dread, regret. My mind can hardly ever relax as it has to run up to the next "bad thing" it can find and worry over it...whether it's in the past or future (Living in the moment? Not my specialty.) Sometimes these issues are valid; sometimes they're irrational. In any case, yes...

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Suddenly I See what the all the fuss about KT is about
over 3 years ago

I was surfing the Web a couple weeks ago while VH1's "Top 20 Video Countdown" played in the background when out of nowhere this really nice upbeat song started. I looked up because I thought I heard Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine," but no, that wasn't it. It was KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See." This song is a-rockin', I said to myself. Now I can't get this song outta my head. Am I t...

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Mozzie - Stoppin' the Love (cover)
over 2 years ago
Trying again to get this off the ground...
over 3 years ago

Alright, let's try this again.So... This is my second attempt at starting a new Mog page. I signed up last night and posted an entry earlier tonight, but then discovered that my user name was my full name—not what I had intended to do. Since you cannot change it once you set up the account, the only thing I could do was delete the account and start all over again. Oi.So... here we go again.Belo.

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