KT Tunstall's newest release drastically unfantastic

I'm not usually one to judge an album the first time I hear it. Yet, listening to KT Tunstall's sophomore album Drastic Fantastic, I can feel the dreaded sophomore album slump setting in. You know, the curse of an artist's second album never being as good as their first.

The opening song, "Little Favours," repeats the same guitar riff over and over again, every once in awhile shifting the pitch a bit for change.

Tunstall must really consider repetition a thing of beauty, because it's all over Drastic. Instead of the folksy Tunstall sound fans fell in love with, the album is full of poppy, cliché-riddled, bubble gum lyrics, with love lines instead of the original nitty-gritty approach.

Only Mushmouth from Fat Albert could understand many of the album's vocals. Half of the time all I could hear during the tracks were some mumbling and then the chorus line. When the actual chorus line finally came around, it was just the same line over and over again.

The only song that really stood out to me was "Funny Man", for its darker connotations. But overall I feel as if Tunstall was trying far too hard to lean into the pop genre instead of sticking to her folk roots. It's as if her managers told her, "We need more radio hits!"

Her first single "Hold On" has an interesting video attached to it, showing trends throughout the decades. Fifties, eighties, nineties, and today. It's interesting to see how she's changed from her indie feel to the modern day mediocre pop stars with the generic video and hooks in her songs.

Drastic Fantastic just doesn't really strike a chord with me. It's mediocre and doesn't have any heart put in it, like her first album, Eye to the Telescope, did. I wouldn't be in a rush to buy this one.

To listen for yourself, visit www.kttunstall.com.