KT Tunstall - 'Saving My Face'
In a discussion with Fraser the other day, I mentioned that when I'm reviewing a song I try not to take the video into account unless it's absolutely necessary, because it's the song we're meant to be evaluating, and not the shiny pieces of promotional media that accompany it. Presumably the same applies to album covers, which is a shame, because I'd love to go on and on about how amazing the cover to 'Drastic Fantastic' is (even if the title itself is a bit dodgy), striking the perfect balance between "I am a serious musician" and "whee! I like shiny things!" But that is a discussion for another time, and another place.
Another, slightly more relevant, discussion I had with Fraser was about KT Tunstall, as Fraser pointed out that when you watch her performing live, you can just see the joy in what she does shining out of her, and how infectious that is as an audience member.
Obviously that kind of dynamic is a lot harder to capture on a recording, because you don't have the audience right there in front of you reacting, or indeed as an audience member you don't have the performer standing practically within touching distance and mesmerising you with their popstar pivots and their hundred-dollar words. But I actually think this single comes pretty close - it just rings through with happiness, confidence, and most importantly, a canny sense of what makes a really good pop song.
KT certainly knows her way around a catchy hook, and crucially, because I'm on a bit of a crusade about this at the moment, by the end of the song you're not in the same place you were at the beginning - there's a story going on in here (about the misprioritisation of beauty amid the loss of other human faculties, unless I'm mistaken) and a progression both in the melody and in the lyrics. There's a lot going on, and it's quite an adventure for the ears.
I don't think this has quite the mainstream crossover potential of 'Suddenly I See' or the idiosyncratic brilliance of 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree', but sometimes it's fine just to be a really, really good pop song on your own terms, which is precisely what this is.
Download: Out now
CD Released: November 12th
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
Hmm, now I think KT is fabulous, but I do find that the new album (including this songle) is a wee bit shiny and squeaky clean. Where's the va-va-voom that was all over the first one? Has she gone a bit LA? Hopefully, I'm wrong but methinks that having some cash to spend on this records has led to an overabundance of production, which is to the detriment of everything that made KT KT.