Tiger Suit

Background

On 11 February 2010 reported that, "KT Tunstall has recorded her new album in Berlin's famous Hansa studio. The studio, beside the site of the Berlin Wall, was used to make legendary albums including David Bowie's Heroes and U2's Achtung Baby. KT said: "I had an amazing three weeks recording in Hansa in Berlin in January and am finishing it all off in London." The Scots singer, who has been quiet of late, reassured fans she has been busy. She added: "I am still very much alive and have every music-making limb and muscle working in my laboratory of fierce-new-album-ness." Before her album comes out, KT played a stripped-down set at the Haiti fundraising gig at the Roundhouse in Camden on Thursday 25 February. She hoped to jump up with her old pal Seasick Steve for a song or two. Kt added: "My shizzle will feature some new faces and definitely some new songs, so come and have a listen and chuck some dough at a good cause."

She stated down the line from a promo stop in Minneapolis that she doesn't write on tour, "so it was essential that I took time out from her previous album Drastic Fantastic". She had started her time off by travelling through the Arctic, South America and India, so she had locked into a very primal, indigenous spirit by the time it came to recording.

Tunstall said that the album's title is inspired by a recurring dream she had, before discovering that 2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger. The dream is about her and her little brother, seeing a tiger in her garden and goes outside to stroke it. She returns indoors and is seized by the fear that she could have been killed. Over the years, it has occurred to her that the reason the tiger responds so passively is that she herself is disguised as a tiger, wearing a tiger suit.

She said that while writing and recording the album, she found a new sound she called "Nature techno", which mixes organic instrumentation with electronic and dance textures. At a media showcase in London, Tunstall offered an unusual description of the songs from her forthcoming third album: "Like Eddie Cochran working with Leftfield".

Reception

Tiger Suit received generally positive reviews by critics. Aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalised rating of 73% based on fourteen critic reviews and AnyDecentMusic? reports a rating of 7.0 based on thirteen reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave it 4.5 out of five, saying it is "built upon Tunstall's strongest set of songs yet" and calling it "an excellent album that satisfies as pure sound and as songwriting sustenance". Charlotte Richardson Andrews of The Guardian called it an "inventive follow-up to 2007's Drastic Fantastic, which merges her raspy folk with free-spirited campfire rhythms" and found it "introspective in places, but mostly [...] fierce, claws-out fun". Rick Pearson of the Evening Standard awarded Tiger Suit four out of five stars, saying that Tunstall "has set her sights on the dancefloor with its 11 up-tempo tracks" and that "the album adds synthesisers and drum machines to Tunstall's platinum-selling pop formula". Victoria Dillingham of musicOMH wrote that "despite her self-confessed lack of confidence when it comes to crossing musical boundaries, Tunstall proves that in the guise of her Tiger Suit she can achieve anything she puts her mind to." Greg Kot from Entertainment Weekly thought that "with commercial radio all about that urban groove thing these days, it's little wonder that the Scottish singer KT Tunstall decorates her Lilith Fair-style songwriting chops with electro-pop beats" and stated that she "keeps enough off-kilter grit in her voice to make the claim in "(Still a) Weirdo" stick". Fiona Shepherd of The Scotsman felt that "Tunstall dresses up her songs with brave new sounds but at heart she's still a pop songwriter with rootsy inclinations" and stated that "there is a degree of tension throughout [the album] between Tunstall's determination to try something different and her love of a simple song".

Matthew Horton of BBC Music said that Tunstall "has settled into a familiar groove" and called the album "all no end of fun, without pushing any envelopes". James Berry of Yahoo! Music noticed that "there's the energy of electronic input underpinning some songs, but the moments that leave marks include the four-to-the-floor squall of "Push That Knot Away" [...], staccato simplicity of "(Still a) Weirdo" and the xylophone and acoustic guitar marching drum twinkle-fest "Fade Like a Shadow" and stated that the album sounds like "KT Tunstall armed with a better producer". Jeff Tamarkin from The Phoenix found it "tougher, louder, and more electronically endowed than [...] its poppy predecessor" and noticed the "denser, rowdier sonics that permeate much of the record", but felt that "in her quest for catchy buzz lines, [Tunstall] sacrificed clarity and craft". J. Edward Keyes of Rolling Stone said that Tunstall "leavens sleek pop songs with her warm-whiskey rasp" and stated that "one of Tiger Suit's cleverest tricks" is that "it can so nimbly navigate such contradictions", awarding it three out of five stars.

The Songs "Come On, Get In" and "Glamour Puss" were used in the TV show Desperate Housewives' promo for episodes 8 and 12 of the 7th season.

Chart performance

A week after the album's release, on 9 October 2010, the album peaked in the UK album chart at number 5, which is the third of Tunstall's albums to reach the top 5 (two of her previous albums peaked at 3). However, contrary to the two previous album, Tiger Suit stayed in the top 100 for four weeks (whereas Eye to the Telescope stayed for 94 weeks and Drastic Fantastic for 20 weeks). On its second week of release, the album fell down to 16th position, 33rd on its third week, and then disappeared from the top 40.

In Ireland, the album peaked at 33, staying one week in the top 40.

In the U.S, Tiger Suit peaked at the number of 43 on the US Billboard 200 Albums, and also peaked at 13 in the US Top Rock Albums, 18 in the US Top Digital Albums, and 25 in the Top 100 European Albums.

In the other countries of Europe, the album failed at the French top 100, where she was certified gold for Eye to the Telescope, peaking at 118 and staying in the top 200 for two weeks. In Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany, the album entered the top 100. In Switzerland, the album peaked at 34 in its first week of release.

Track listing

All lyrics written by KT Tunstall, except for track 12 (James Murphy, Pat Mahoney, Tyler Pope).

12. "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down (Live from the Hiro Ballroom, New York)" – 4:49

Personnel