KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic

KT Tunstall spent a good amount of time busking on the street for spare cash before breaking onto the mainstream music scene. The fact that American Idol featured her song "White Horse and the Cherry Tree" more than once helped to catapult her into a national spotlight. A couple years and a Grammy nomination later, Tunstall's follow up, Drastic Fantastic has been a well-anticipated release.

Is it Drastic?

Sort of, but not really. Where Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza was a very folk-infuzed album performed (almost) entirely acoustic, Eye to the Telescope was decidedly more in the folk-rock vein. The latter called to mind PJ Harvey and Patty Smith on a few tunes—two women who are considered masters of rock and alternative music.

Drastic Fantastic once again straddles the line between contemporary folk and alternative music. Using banjos, guitars and other folk instruments, Tunstall unleashes some seriously rocking tunes. Songs like "Little Favours" and "White Bird" seem like natural progressions from "White Horse" and "Throw Me a Rope."

Is it Fantastic?

In short, yes. Drastic Fantastic strikes a solid balance between loud, poppy tunes you might blast with the windows down, and slow, introspective numbers that might inspire you to shut the blinds and be alone. "Beauty of Uncertainty" is an excellent, ambient ode on what she's looking for in a man, through lenses of self-preservation.

That's followed by the truly fantastic "Someday Soon," which calls to mind Simon and Garfunkel, albeit with a little updating. Here it becomes apparent that KT Tunstall has two gifts: one is a natural knack for rocky, uptempo tunes that seem to be made for film soundtracks, and the other is a gift for low-key soft-spoken numbers that simultaneously drip with hope and remorse.

The Bottom Line

Drastic Fantastic delivers on one of its promises: it is fantastic. My only real complaint in how the songs are organized. For an album that starts out with a song as up-beat and strong as "Little Favours," all the similar songs are packed into the first half of the disc. The last several songs are quiet enough that, given the song positioning, they could easily slip into the background.

That said, all the songs are, individually, quite fantastic. While showcasing Tunstall's folkie roots and acousti-pop talents, the album also stretches the rock-infused guitar strumming, claps and choppy percussion familiar to her fams from Eye to the Telescope, to a new level.