KT Tunstall

KT Tunstall has never been one for creative stasis. The Grammy®-nominated Scottish musician burst onto the music scene with her 2004 multi-platinum debut, Eye to the Telescope, which spawned the global hits “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See.” These songs, paired with her pioneering looping skills, established Tunstall as a captivating and dynamic must-see performer, as well as a songwriter with a singular knack for balancing introspective folk and propulsive rock.

In the last few years, Tunstall has expanded on these musical styles by focusing on a trilogy of records, where each album zeroes in on a single concept: soul, body and mind. The first, 2016’s KIN, was the soul record; 2018’s WAX was the body record, and the new NUT is the mind record.

Over the last decade, Tunstall has become used to upheaval. In fact, when she started the trilogy, she was in a much different place—figuratively and literally. In 2015, Tunstall sold everything she owned and moved to California, a bold move that came at the end of a three-year period full of change and transitions. Among other things, she studied film composition with the Sundance Institute after needing a break from touring and recording. Making new albums was the furthest thing from her mind—a big change for someone who asked for a piano at the age of 4 and decided she wanted to be a singer-songwriter by age 15.

In light of this personal evolution, it’s no wonder that NUT is such a step forward. However, it’s clear Tunstall relished leaving her comfort zone and trying something new. 

“I made NUT completely differently from any other record I have ever made,” Tunstall says. “But I wanted to do things differently. The reason I pursued music was because I had to avoid a repetitive job. I need to feel a constant sense of exploration in life. And I’ve realized you can absolutely fall into repetition even in this job. And so for NUT, I was like, ‘Come on, let’s do what we said we were going to do. Let’s push into something new.’ What’s most important is that I made an exciting, meaningful record that I love, and had fun while I was doing it.”