What KT Did Next...

The release of the second single from an acclaimed album must be a daunting experience. You would want everything to go smoothly with no last minute problems. That wasn’t really the scenario for KT Tunstall at the start of this month.

Her manager left her a message to say that a South-African artist had apparently written a song that was a carbon-copy of her next single, both lyrically and musically. This would mean the lawyers would be dragged in and the single’s release would have to be delayed. In a blind panic, KT tried to call him back. After a frantic wait and a search for original lyrics, he returned the call. "Jesus", she said, "what's going on?”. He responds with a hearty chuckle and asks her to check today’s date. April 1st. “He was such a bastard, I couldn’t believe it“ says KT, “next year he is gonna be on his ass. I have a whole year to plot against him”.

Sadistic joking managers aside, KT Tunstall has had quite a good year so far. As well as salon-tousled black hair, a healthy collection of leg warmers and a quirky style, the girl who was born Kate is also the proud purveyor of mid-Atlantic songs under belt. Her now Gold debut album ‘Eye To The Telescope’ was released at the start of 2005 to rave reviews heralding the 29 year-old Scot as the next Dido/Norah Jones/Stevie Nicks/Janis Joplin type singer/songwriter. She has already released an EP as well as her album. The first single, ‘Black Horse And The Cherry Tree’ received heavy radio play and saw KT feature on diverse TV programmes like Later With Jools Holland and T4’s bitch-a-thon Popworld.

Although ‘Eye To The Telescope’ is an impressive and pleasant album, a couple of the tracks could be accused of being a little over produced and polished. It seems uncharacteristic of such a collection of work but KT explains that it has got labelled as glossy because the two opening tracks, ‘Other Side Of The World’ and ‘Another Place To Fall’ are “these two massive, ornate doors that open up to the rest of the album...but I don‘t think that the rest of the tracks can be accused of being glossed”.

Her next single, ‘Other Side Of The World’, the subject of her cruel April Fool, is to be released on May 9th and is currently playing as Jo Whiley’s Pet Sound for the week. Whiley’s past Pet Sounds artists include Keane, Franz Ferdinand and Damien Rice and have gone on to great success. “It’s fantastic having someone like Jo Whiley behind it, I couldn’t ask for much better support and she is really lovely too. She’s been such a babe about it. She has been championing me for about a year now and it means the world to me”.

The single is a beautifully soaring love song about the “horrors” and heartbreak of being in a long-distance relationship, something KT has experienced herself. “It’s something I’ve dealt with at very close hand. It completely sucks and I would never recommend it” says KT. But this particular song isn’t about herself. “My muses were a couple of really good friends of mine, one of whom lived in America and the other lived near me in St. Andrews. They were together for about five years but they never lived in the same place and they split up, so this song is about them. It was just completely mental to see two people who loved each other so much but not enough to sacrifice giving up where they were from and stuff. Although they are back together now.” she explains.

Growing up in the secluded “bubble” town of St Andrews in Northern Scotland to adopted parents, the half-Chinese Kate wasn’t exposed to much music aside from a song by a Harvard mathematician about the periodic table. Her father was a physicist (which explains the elements song) and used to take Kate and her brothers to see the observatory at St Andrews University. Years later, after the newly named KT made a promise to herself some years ago that she would release an LP before she turned 30, she would name her debut album in fond memory of these trips to the observatory, hence ‘Eye To The Telescope’ .