Newsbomb

Eye To The Telescope is the debut of Edinburgh-born chantreuse KT Tunstall. It sits firmly in that cappuccino genre of soft-edged, jazz-influenced pop that has made Norah Jones’ mantelpiece heavy with Grammies and given Mike Batt a Katie Melua-shaped, Womble-free success. This was going to be said at some point, so here’s as good as anywhere: this is not a groundbreaking album. It won’t change your life, unless you only need one more CD to complete your sun-reflecting, world-destroying death ray, in which case the actual choice of CD is rather less important than its intrinsic shiny roundness.

This is not to say that the album is without merit. Tunstall’s songs are, almost without exception, excellent and more than worthy of the praise heaped on them in the national press. Her voice is variable enough to cover by-the-numbers pop thrash (‘Another Place To Fall’), Beth Orton-esque alt. folkery (‘Suddenly I See’) and smoky balladeering (‘False Alarm’). Standout tracks come when Tunstall takes elements of the rock, jazz and pop influences that pervade her work and mixes them with a little something extra; the hint of blues on bonus track ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’ or the chunky guitar riff and chanted backing vocals on ‘Stoppin’ The Love’. Throughout, this album surprises and delights.

It’s like when you get to nearer the bottom of a cappuccino. If you can get past the froth, you’ll find there’s definitely something in there and, if you’re not expecting it, it can knock you sideways.