Music with Eddie Rowley

ED SHEERAN is famous for rocking 80,000-capacity venues like Croke Park as a one-man band by using a looper pedal.

However, long before the ginger-haired genius dominated the music world, Scottish singer KT Tunstall made fans sits up and take notice as she employed the same device on Later With Jools Holland in 2004 when she performed ‘Black Horse And The Cherry Tree’.

Her album, Eye To The Telescope, won Tunstall critical acclaim when it was released that same year.

She has since notched up success with a further four albums, and her songs have been used everywhere from the opening credits of The Devil Wears Prada to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign theme.

Recently, KT has been awarded the Inspirational Artist gong at the Women In Music Awards, and she spent the summer touring worldwide with The Pretenders, Simple Minds and Barenaked Ladies.

But the Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter and performer has also been busy in the studio, and is set to release her sixth album, WAX, on October 5 through Virgin Records. It’s the second of a trilogy which explores themes of spirit, body and mind.

KT has co-written the entire album, which has been produced by Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand. Her first single, ‘The River’, is now available to download.

“I knew before I started writing that I wanted it to be an electric guitar record,” KT says.

“The album is about wanting to escape the madness of the world, bad relationships, and wanting to be washed clean.”

The powerhouse singer has also announced a new tour in support of the album and it will roll into Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on March 4, with an exciting new creative set-up, including a female drummer.