#SongoftheWeek: KT Tunstall – ‘The River’

• ARTIST: KT Tunstall
• SONG: The River

SO ALEX, WHY IS THIS YOUR SONG OF THE WEEK?

We have to come clean a little bit here, viewers. The last time we bought a new release by award winning singer-songwriter KT Tunstall was well over 10 years ago. That release being her second album from 2007, ‘Drastic Fantastic’, the follow-up to her million selling 2005 debut ‘Eye To The Telescope’ which gave the world hits like ‘Suddenly I See’ and ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’.

We have liked and digitally invested in singles of her since (‘Still A (Weirdo)’ in 2010, ‘Feel It All’ in 2013), but never got round to investing in the parent albums. And yet we do like KT. She is by all accounts an absolute hoot to watch live, and even more of a joy to watch being interviewed (such as the time she recalled a Japanese journalist saying that her gig was like a squid).

And so then, to ‘The River’, her first single off ‘Wax’, her sixth studio album and second in a trilogy of records that she describes as being about ‘spirit, body and mind’ following her ‘Kin’ album in 2016. (‘Wax’ is the ‘body’ record, apparently).

This driving, harmonic, almost Chrissie Hynde-esque number about the fearlessness of youth (‘I wanna jump into the river, and feel it on my skin / But the river is rocks, and I’m already lost / And I know where I’ve been’) is a pleasant reintroduction to what made her such an appealing prospect for us over a decade ago, and makes us intrigued not only for the new record, but also with a desire to go revisit the albums in between the last one we bought as a peace offering. Welcome back Ms Tunstall. Not that you ever lost it, but you’ve still got it.

‘The River’ is available to stream and download now, and KT’s new album ‘Wax’ is released on 5th October, both via Virgin EMI. Twitter: @KTTunstall

Don’t forget to Tweet us or comment below and let us know your thoughts on our #SongoftheWeek this week!