She鈥檚 arrived, apparently from nowhere,听 fully kitted out with an astonishingly mature talent. Her debut CD "Eye to the Telescope", is brimful with solid, well-crafted songs. It certainly doesn鈥檛 sound like a first effort. Maybe it isn鈥檛. Maybe in some strange parallel universe 鈥 one where there is perhaps a reason for Jimmy Carr鈥檚 existence 鈥 KT Tunstall had her raw, precocious first album and her disastrously over-ambitious second album. Maybe Eye to the Telescope is that great third album we鈥檇 been waiting for. Anyway, there鈥檚 certainly a bit of a buzz around Ms Tunstall at the moment. A single in the charts and a tour that鈥檚 fast selling out - things are looking good for the girl from St Andrews. She certainly looks like she鈥檚 enjoying herself, delivering an assured set - if rather brief - set at the Academy 3. She fronts a three piece band 鈥 drums, bass and keyboards supporting her own impressive acoustic playing. The lowish key line-up and some sensible work on the mixing desk showed off Tunstall鈥檚 fabulous voice 鈥 an incredibly supple instrument that can move from Bjork-like feyness to a bluesy rasp within the space of a verse. Great voice but great songs too. There鈥檚 nothing hugely original going on here but I鈥檝e got no problem with that if the songs are as melodically strong, cleverly constructed and听 intelligently arranged as this. The variety is impressive - the swaggering chorus of "Another Place to Fall", the bitter sweetness "Heal Over," the slapping Bo Diddleyish "Miniature Disasters". The showstopper is the single "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" where she builds up an acoustic wall of sound using effects pedals, recording and playing back each sequence on a loop. Fabulous. Who does she sound like? The aforementioned Bjork and Carole King, Beth Orton, Anne Widdecombe 鈥 take your pick.. At 29 she鈥檚 relatively late into the game but if I put my eye to the telescope I reckon I鈥檝e seen a medium-sized star that should be blazing for some time. | 
