KT Tunstall Celebrates 'Eye To The Telescope' 20th Anniversary
(BMG) KT Tunstall celebrates the 20th anniversary of her iconic debut album, Eye To The Telescope, with the release in exclusive collector's edition vinyl and CD formats, featuring B-sides and exclusive live tracks. Included on the album and to mark this major milestone, fans will be treated to three previously unheard tracks: the title track "Eye To The Telescope," "Cancerian" and "Anything At All."
Originally released at the tail end of 2004, the Eye To The Telescope album catapulted Scottish Singer Songwriter KT Tunstall into the global spotlight, fuelled by an unforgettable live debut on Later... with Jools Holland - a career-defining moment that saw Tunstall seize a last-minute opportunity to fill in for rapper Nas, and perform with nothing but her guitar, loop pedal, and tambourine. Her performance of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" became instantly iconic, one of the first examples of a 'viral moment' and launched a record that features several hit singles, which was given its full push in 2005 on the back of that moment. The album contained several hits, including the massive "Suddenly I See" - a song that became inextricably linked to pop culture history with its full-length feature in the opening scene of The Devil Wears Prada, forever associating both the song and Tunstall with a ubiquitous zeitgeist moment.
From her fearless solo looping to her emotive, genre-spanning songwriting, KT Tunstall has never been one to stand still creatively. Recipient of several awards, most recently the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for outstanding Song Collection, Tunstall has continued to tour the world and release eight critically acclaimed albums.
As many have pointed out, Tunstall is relatively rare example of a small but exclusive line of female singer songwriters, either from or adopted by this country, whose guitar playing, both acoustic and electric, is unapologetically front and centre; think Chrissie Hynde, PJ Harvey, and (Tunstall collaborator) Suzi Quatro.
A highlight of the anniversary re-release is the addition of three new songs, including current single "Cancerian," "Anything At All," as well as the title track "Eye To The Telescope." These songs were started during the original writing sessions and left unfinished until this year. These three new tracks were also released on October 24th as their own stand alone digital EP - The Stargazer EP, which contains the original versions as well as the "Still" acoustic versions. Speaking about the new songs and album title, Tunstall shares:
EYE TO THE TELESCOPE: "The title for my first album was inspired by the times when my physicist Dad, who had a spare set of keys for the Observatory at Andrew's university, would randomly get us up in the middle of the night and bundle us into the car in our pajamas to go and look through the huge telescope to see the night sky; the Moon, Saturn, Halley's comet, all of which completely blew my mind as a kid. When I decided to call the album 'Eye to the Telescope', I thought I'd have a go at writing a title track, but what I began writing was so delicate, and I felt that a title track of a first album surely had to be a banger, so I abandoned it. My label BMG encouraged me to finish the song for this special re-release, and it's been such a thrill to complete something over 20 years in the making. Having the album's original string arranger David Davidson add his gorgeous orchestration on it, as well as Shabaka's magical wooden flute performance, feels like a cosmic full-circle moment."
CANCERIAN: "After deciding on my first album title, it got me thinking about horoscopes and how we have always looked to the stars for guidance. "Cancerian" is written from that middle ground of awe and skepticism, and pokes some gentle fun at anyone being sure of how the future will turn out. It was a lot of fun to record an old song for the very first time, and I loved getting the chance to work with the truly excellent Producer and Mixer Robert Adam Stevenson on this track."
ANYTHING AT ALL: "I wrote this song with Martin Terefe who also produced it. It's a song about finding it impossible to communicate with someone you love. It is such a thrill to finally get "Anything At All" out into the world. I have adored this song since writing it in the early 2000's - for almost every album I've made I've wondered if it could make the track listing. But I'm glad to have waited until now, as it feels like the perfect moment, a gift from my younger self. I got very emotional in the studio, singing backing vocals along to my 20 years younger self. A beautiful experience. When I listen to it now, it could almost be a message from this future me to my younger self during times of struggle."
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