Mid-'90s female alternative music was supposed to have faded out. It certainly seemed to have been shelved among all the random music we recognize from childhood. This is proven wrong with the music of KT Tunstall.
Tunstall's new album, "Eye To The Telescope," released in February, is reminiscent of a movement that passed a long time ago. This album does not bring any of it back.
It is clear that Tunstall has an excellent voice, but her tone, even when she is shouting, is dispassionate and flat. While this may be considered as a stylistic choice, it fails to captivate. The music is bland.
Lyrics can very often save an artist from his or her musical talent or ability to sing. This isn't the case with Tunstall. If anything, the lyrics harm the album as a whole. Like bad poetry, the songs are riddled with simple rhymes and clich?(c)s.
"Each time I turn around there's nothing there at all/ So tell me why I feel like I'm up against a wall," sings Tunstall in "False Alarm."
"A fire burns/ Water comes/ You cool me down when I'm cold inside," are the opening lyrics to "Universe & U."
It's possible to imagine how it could be more intriguing. Many songs have the potential to be catchy. Unfortunately, even with such potential, anything near to Tunstall's style is a destitute of originality.
If she were more apathetic, maybe even disdainful, she could pass as an imitation of Fiona Apple or Black Box Recorder. Or if there were more emotion in her tone, as though she cared about the song she is singing, she could sound something like Sixpence None the Richer, Dido, or even 10,000 Maniacs.
"Eye To The Telescope" serves as a reminder of other music - music that has been around for a long time and music that has been imitated before. Tunstall's voice does promise that she may produce some intriguing music in the future. At the moment though, her style is 10 years late, and not very good.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
