Review: KT Tunstall, Leeds City Varieties

The intimacy of the Victorian music hall, amplified by its gorgeous period interiors, is the perfect foil to a stripped-back acoustic set from the Scottish singer.

The gig was the first of a mini-tour to promote her new album, Invisible Empire//Crescent Moon, and invariably featured a host of new songs. But the pleasure of seeing KT Tunstall perform on her own without a band is to get a glimpse into just how her songs are put together. Her use of sequencing pedals to record a hand clap or a vocal loop are an ingenious trick to build one element of a song on top of one another.

Beginning her set with the track Invisible Empire, Tunstall claimed the opening song of the album acts as a gateway to what is to come. And her latest release is something of a watershed. The fact she is standing alone on stage accentuates the heartache which is an obvious influence on the album.

Her well-publicised divorce and the loss of her father are the bedrock for many of the songs, and the track Carried is a heartfelt attempt to explain the passage of life after death.But it is not all doom and gloom.

Tunstall is an engaging performer, and the cover of Don Henley’s The Boys of Summer is an unexpected triumph.

Throw in a couple of her much-loved tracks, including the ever-present but always appreciated Black Horse & The Cherry Tree, and this was a gig that artfully blended the vintage KT Tunstall with the new.