MUSIC

Multi-platinum-selling Scots rocker KT Tunstall talks toys, nature-techno and technical hitches with Leo Nikolaidis.

It’s been an exciting few years for KT Tunstall. Since her breakthrough appearance on ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ seven years back, she’s toured the world, won Ivor Novello and Brit awards and shifted several million albums. From jamming in a bedroom with former housemate (and Beta Band founder) Gordon Anderson, she’s gone on to play the American leg of Live Earth and the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, sailed to Greenland with Jarvis Cocker and Martha Wainwright to fight climate change and even, bizarrely, seen one of her songs chosen as the rallying-cry for Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Her Scots-lilting, radio-friendly rock’s a marketable meld of folk and country – but latest album ‘Tiger Suit’ sees a swerve towards more exploratory, electronic territory. While it’s not exactly on the scale of Radiohead or Dylan’s opinion-dividing electric controversies, she’s certainly very pleased to be playing with new toys, new band mates and new styles. “You get famous for something and it takes a certain amount of effort to break out of the shell, but that’s exactly what I’m interested in doing,” she says. “No, it’s not ‘Kid A’ – there are some people who are not hugely into the new album but, conversely, I’ve noticed a higher percentage of people who didn’t like the old stuff liking this.”

She’s dubbed her new sound ‘nature techno’, which is perhaps more of an attempt to explain her ideas to producers than a groundbreaking new genre, and while it’s not a million miles away from her previous work – few techno enthusiasts would appreciate or understand the categorisation, for example – it does mark an attempt to experiment with different influences and collaborations. “We went and recorded the album out in Berlin. It was myself, Luke [Bullen, her drummer-husband, wooed on a previous tour]; Jamie Morrison [drummer from the Noisettes] and this brilliant guitarist called Seye Adelekan. He just completely stamped his mark on the whole record; he has such a unique style. Unfortunately, he had to go off and sign a deal for his own album.” Adelekan’s sudden exit led KT to pull in her contacts to find a replacement to tour with, and fellow singer-songstress Charlotte Hatherley (she of Ash and Bat for Lashes-collaborating fame) was keen to join in. “I know Natasha Khan from Bat for Lashes, and I just emailed her and asked if she knew anyone – and got a reply back from Charlotte saying that she really fancied it. It was absolutely amazing – such serendipity. She’s a real chameleon with her voice. When she’s doing backing vocals, she can sound exactly the same as me.”

New album highlight ‘Still a Weirdo’ starts with looped, throaty guttural noises before the trademark Tunstall hooks and husky voice work their way in to make a pop melody out of the slightly odd beginning; the string parts on ‘Glamour Puss’ have also been noticeably played around with – reverse delay effect for the more technically obsessed of you. But is she ever in danger of becoming a nerdy navel-gazer and alienating her mainstream fanbase? “There are very different responsibilities when it comes to progressing and making new music, and when you play a show where people have paid money to come and see you. I have absolutely no problem with an artist doing a show and playing only new stuff; it’s within their rights to do that. But it’s potentially a little bit mean – these people might have been supporting you for a long time. For my current show, I am playing the whole of the new album, but peppered with old tunes. It’s two birds with one stone – I’m kind of pleasing myself and the audience at the same time. In many ways it’s very liberating [to have some creative freedom come out of success], but at the same time you get famous for something and it takes a certain amount of effort to break out of the shell, but that’s what I’m interested in doing. I just can’t be a musician who repeats herself over and over and over again – I think I’d go mental.”

KT TUNSTALL PLAYED COLSTON HALL, BRISTOL ON TUE 1 MAR. FFI: WWW.KTTUNSTALL.COM 

Copyright Leo Nikolaidis 2011

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