Nut

Wrapping up her Soul, Body, Mind album trilogy, Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall delivered the final installment, NUT, after a profound four years of change that found the artist processing hearing loss, heightened self-awareness, new love, and a global pandemic. Diving straight into those experiences on opener "Out of Touch," Tunstall suffuses the LP with deep catharsis, emotional heft, and introspection, reflecting on both personal and existential upheaval. More polished and pop-oriented than its predecessors -- 2016s KIN and 2018s WAX -- NUT amplifies the production pizzazz and injects programmed beats into Tunstalls typically rousing folk-rock, often channeling the experimental energy of her third set, Tiger Suit. Dance-centric pop gems such as the elastic dose of euphoria "I Am the Pilot" and the shimmering love song "Synapse" are some of the finest moments in her catalog, while classic-sounding cuts such as the vibrant "Private Eyes" -- a rollicking cautionary tale that sounds like KINs "Took Me So Long to Get Here…" mashed onto Tiger Suit -- the crunching urgency of the riff-packed "Canyons," and the Stevie Nicks-inspired "Demigod" will serve those looking to play guitar hero. For longtime fans who have been around since "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," she makes good use of her trademark sample-pedal with the thumping, Edie Brickell-influenced "Dear Shadow." She ties her seven-year journey together on the tender centerpiece "Three," revealing she had "three responses: my heart, my mind, my soul" throughout almost a decade of life-altering changes. The trilogy (and album itself) closes with a warm sigh on the sun-soaked "All the Time," a lovelorn snapshot that could have fit on the equally wistful Invisible Empire. Brisk and to the point, NUT is a lovely end to an ambitious project, yet another example of Tunstalls expertise at writing a catchy hook and hitting the emotional core with her endearing personality and ability to connect through shared human experiences. ~ Neil Z. Yeung