Drastic Fantastic - KT Tunstall

Lucy Tyler | 28 December 2007

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Drastic Fantastic
KT Tunstall
EMI
2007

After the success of her debut album, Eye to the Telescope and follow up album, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Scottish singer KT Tunstall has burst back onto the music scene with her third studio album in as many years, Drastic Fantastic.

Tunstall, who made a name for herself touring music festivals in the UK, has produced an album that is full of folky rock songs that are sure to be a big hit. Themes of longing and confusion underscore many of the songs on the album, painting a picture of someone who knows that this world is not all that there is, but who isn’t quite sure about what to do with that knowledge.

The song ‘Suddenly I See’, originally released as a single on Eye to the Telescope has again been included and is one of the best songs on the album.

The chorus goes, “Suddenly I see, this is what I want to be. Suddenly I see, why the hell it means so much to me”. It seems as though Tunstall is longing to be like someone else, someone who she sees as better than herself. She wants to be the beautiful girl who can light up a room, and make everyone happy.

However, it is important to realise that no one is perfect, as the Bible reminds us and so to aspire to something like this is both wrong and fruitless. Romans 3:10-12 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away”.

The song ‘Paper Aeroplane’ has some interesting lyrics. The first verse says, “And this road that I have followed is leading me to hell and you said it didn’t matter but I think you’re a liar”.

Here, Tunstall is clearly searching for something that will get her off the path to hell, and acknowledges that the advice of her friend is not sufficient. However, she doesn’t quite seem to know what to do to get onto the right path. The Bible is quite clear about what to do to get off the wrong path and onto the right one. Acts 4:11-12 says “He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone”. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”.

Drastic Fantastic paints a picture of someone searching for God, of someone who is not quite there yet. The themes of longing and confusion explored by Tunstall raise interesting questions and could be the basis of some good discussion with non-Christian friends.