Album: KT Tunstall <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza, RELENTLESS

First released in May as a download, this live-in-the-studio acoustic set has been fattened up for Christmas with a DVD containing a documentary and a few live cuts. It's a relaxed affair on which Tunstall and her band breeze through a couple of tracks from Eye To the Telescope ("Miniature Disasters" and "Universe & U"), her debut single "Throw Me a Rope", and sundry B-sides and new songs. The opener "Ashes" is typical, jogging gently along with fluid lead guitar fills and muted trumpet tints. Anchored by subtle drums and oozing double bass, the band leans languidly towards blues ("One Day") and jazz ("Boo Hoo") without losing touch with KT's core folk-pop mode, while multi-instrumentalist Kenny Dickenson provides most of the instrumental details - trumpet, glockenspiel, organ, melodica - that differentiate the tracks. Most impressive of all, though, is a pared-back "Change" on which Donna Maciocia's backing harmonies slot so satisfyingly into Tunstall's lead vocal that there's no need for anything more than KT's acoustic guitar.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Change', 'Ashes', 'One Day', 'Boo Hoo'