KT Tunstall: Drastic Fantastic

KT Tunstall's slow-burning multi-platinum debut Eye To The Telescope rode into adult-contempo hitsville on the back of "Black Horse And The Cherry Tree," a catchy, quirky single whose status was quickly downgraded to "annoying" thanks to its ubiquity. But it's hard to argue with success, however bland it may be, and Tunstall's new Drastic Fantastic sticks to the same shiny, rock-laced folk-pop that landed the Scottish singer-songwriter's Grey's Anatomy-ready tunes on countless soundtracks and radio playlists. Drastic further smoothes out Telescope's mild grit into a homogenous mash, relying on trickery like handclaps and vocal tics to save it from complete anonymity. It also lacks anything as interesting as "Black Horse," though the first single, "Hold On" certainly attempts to recreate that track's driving momentum. Tunstall tries hard to stand out with moments of guitar fuzz and lyrics that occasionally border on clever, but Drastic is ultimately little more than pleasant background noise.