Eye to the Telescope

Tunstall came to public prominence following her performance of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland in 2004. Tunstall's parents and friends were not interested in music, and she began writing music and playing guitar at the age of fifteen years old. She performed her first gig at a venue called The Vic in her native St Andrews after learning to play guitar. Her performance was described as being like a "fish in water", credited to her confidence and ability to "hold the court" in the room. Following the gig, Tunstall was asked to join a band by a member of the audience, and began performing backing vocals in the band on a frequent basis. She described making the album as "fantastically scrappy", with only a "handful" of musical friends. Tunstall began writing songs using a piano, and were often piano style ballads. Her earlier musical sound had become shelved by the time she began writing and recording for Eye to the Telescope. During the writing of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree", Tunstall claimed she "didn't even sit down" during the writing. Following this, Tunstall signed a small recording contract with Capitol Records before she was released from the contract three days later. The only other offer of a recording contract was with Relentless Records, worth £23,000 at the time. As a result, Tunstall says that the album sounds "underground", and she deliberately stayed as an independent artist as she didn't want to sign a recording contract, but ultimately had to if she wanted to release the album. She later said that the song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was inspired by the fact she felt like she was "signing her soul away to the devil" by signing a recording contract. The riffs of the song are a result of Tunstall trying to learn to work the pedals she was provided with during her time performing lead vocals for a band she was a member of. She was on tour with the band during her performance on Jools Holland, and returned to her touring schedule the following day. ==Composition==

The album was described as being like an album "written by someone much further in their career" by music blogger Paul Laird. "Other Side of the World" was described by Tunstall as one of her first co-written songs, which she wrote together with Martin Terefe. Her partnership with him for the writing of the song allowed Tunstall to be vulnerable in her style of writing, and credited him for pushing her to be more personal in her writing ability. Ultimately, the song is about a long-distance relationship, and Tunstall said that she used a "Swedish way of speaking" in some parts of the song, and placing a stronger emphasis on some words throughout, as a result of her partnership with Terefe. The BBC said of the album that it was obvious "a master was at work" during the writing of the album. Lyrically, the album was inspired by The Beatles and with Radiohead influences, something later confirmed by co-writer for the album Terefe. He credited the songwriting for the album as being inspired as a result of "playing" with different musical instruments, and experimenting with them and finding out what the final sound would be like. "Suddenly I See" took its inspiration for its riff throughout the song from listening to blues, which Tunstall listened to each morning whilst driving to the studio. They wished to recreate the same "blues feel" on "Suddenly I See", with Tunstall wishing to explore Bo Didley style beats for the recording. The song was inspired by Tunstall having a feeling of wishing to show people her ability, and to stop trying to convince others that she could have a successful musical career. Tunstall said that her feeling stemmed from seeing Patti Smith on a cover and her perceived confidence, which she later claimed was "something she wanted" as well. It was not initially considered as a single release, and during the recording session of the album, it was never suggested as a single due to the fear of it being written in a commercialised manner in order to become successful. It was described as "fun" to record during the sessions. ==Production==

Producer Steve Osborne realised both the passion and strong ability Tunstall had for playing guitar, and wished to use this as an advantage during the production of the album. He wanted to find something that separated Tunstall from other solo artists, and attributed her guitar playing as being "like a drummer". He wanted Tunstall to play with a guitar during each of the recording sessions as a result of her passion for playing guitar, recognising that her right hand was almost a crucial part in ensuring that Tunstall "sounded right" during the recording sessions. ==Critical reception==

Reviews for Eye to the Telescope were positive. Mark A. Price of PopMatters gave the album a score of 7 out of 10, noting that it manages to sound "both new and familiar", mixing influences from artists like Melissa Etheridge and Fiona Apple, while adding some originality of her own. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave it four stars out of five, calling it "a promising, satisfying debut". The album has been described as "an iconic and beloved record that defined an era of British music in the 2000s" by Brendon Veevers of Renowned for Sound. Despite this, at the time of its release, the BBC described the album was "extremely frustrating" as a result of songs such as "Under The Weather" and "Through The Dark" having a lack of engagement, however, did claim that there was "promising signs of a new found confidence and willingness to take risks" on the song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree". ==Chart performance==

The album entered the UK album chart at 73 and quickly dropped out again (it originally entered the lower regions of the Top 200 in its debut week, but these placings are not officially recorded for statistical purposes). It re-entered at 66 a few weeks later, and its rise was both surprising and unique for a new album on the UK charts. It improved every week for four weeks before peaking at number 36, then dropping down as low as 63 again. It then resumed a somewhat meteoric rise, culminating in a peak of number seven before slowly shifting back down. The publicity surrounding Tunstall's Mercury Music Prize nomination sent it back up the charts to an eventual peak of No. 3, after which time it became a Top 20 mainstay for the rest of 2005. It dropped out of the Top 10 in the 61st week, and has dropped continually since, before ending its run at 72 weeks. After a several month absence, the album returned at No. 66 for a 73rd non-consecutive week in August 2006. The singles from the album became increasingly more successful, with "Other Side of the World" spending almost five months on the chart and "Suddenly I See" remaining in the Top 40 for 10 weeks. The album's next single, "Under the Weather", entered the chart at No. 39, while the fifth and final single, "Another Place to Fall", became Tunstall's first single to miss the Top 40 after more than 1.3 million copies of the album had been sold. In total, Tunstall has spent 133 weeks so far on the British charts. The album was certified 5× platinum by the Irish album chart selling about 75,000 copies, ==Track listing==

All tracks produced by Steve Osborne, except for track 1, "Other Side of the World", which is produced by Osborne and Martin Terefe, and track 4, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree", which is produced by Andy Green. Notes • The original edition of the album, released in December 2004, had a slightly different track order and did not include the studio version of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"; the version of the track recorded on Later... with Jools Holland was included as a "bonus live track". ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. • KT Tunstall – vocals (tracks 1–4, 6, 8–9, 11–12, Lead: 5, 7, 10), guitar (1–11), wurlitzer (1, 10), pianet (3, 7), Shelltone horn (3), piano (2, 5, 8, 12), Doepfer bass (4, 7), chimes (8), additional percussion (4) • Steve Osborne – shelltone horn (tracks 1–2), bass (2, 5, 11), additional guitar (2, 7, 10–11), percussion (5), moog synthesizer (7), background vocals (7, 10), audio mixing (10) • Arnulf Lindner – double bass (tracks 1–2), bass guitar (3, 6, 8–9), baritone guitar (6, 9) • Luke Bullen – drums (tracks 1–3, 5–12), percussion (3–4, 9–10), cajon (5–6, 9–10) • Martin Terefe – additional keyboards (track 1) • Ian Burdge – cello (tracks 2, 10) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts All-time charts ==Certifications==