KT Tunstall - Acoustic Extravaganza

I am a pain, in your ass, and I'm wondering how long it's gonna last - as the album opened with these words, truly, it was as if KT was singing for me alone. This latest release is a collection of new songs and re-interpretations of her masterworks, recorded when KT and her band holed up for two days in a tiny studio on the Isle of Skye. A more countrified sound early on soon makes way for the pop-folk KT has distilled to such marketable effect. As we plod from one clumsy, obvious and insincere metaphor to the next, it becomes obvious that what KT lacks as a lyricist, she has no intention of making up for as a musician. I had the sense of getting stuck in traffic on the M8; hard to get really angry about, but still, it's an hour of your life you'll never get back. [Caroline Hurley]