KT Tunstall realizes her vision for new CD

o What: KT Tunstall, in concert.

o When: 9 p.m. Oct. 31.

o Where: McMenamins Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside St., Portland.

o Cost: $33.20 through Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000 or http://ticketmaster.com.

o Information: 503-225-0047 or http://danceonair.com.

KT Tunstall could say her new album, “Tiger Suit,” literally came from left field. Or, at least a good chunk of it did.

Before going into recording, she told her producer she wanted “Tiger Suit” to sound like a combination of Leftfield, a British electronic duo, and rockabilly legend Eddie Cochrane.

“I spent a lot of time thinking very deeply about what I wanted to make and what was exciting me,” Tunstall said in a phone interview. “And it led to listening back to a lot of my record collection. And Leftfield’s ‘Lesson’ was the album that was floating my boat the most, going back to that record, which I’d loved all through the ’90s, and going, ‘Why is this so good?’ And then also listening to a lot of old Eddie Cochrane and going, ‘Why is this so good?’

“That was what I was excited to go in and do,” she said. She hoped to re-create “that pulse that you would have in a club with live instruments and with human energy, but adding the kind of very beautiful layers and textures that you can get in dance music.”

But figuring out how to reshape the blend of frisky folk and hooky pop that characterized her 2006 debut CD, “Eye To The Telescope” and her 2007 follow-up, “Drastic Fantastic,” was not always fun or easy.

The first setback came when Tunstall decided to participate in a boat trip to Greenland with the Cape Farewell organization. The trip involved a number of artists from different disciplines creating art to raise awareness of climate change. Tunstall hoped it would spark her creativity. Instead, almost the opposite happened.

“I was just with all of these very, very hard-hitting, sensitive, very impressive people,” she said. “And my ego got out a big machete and just started fighting me, chopping off each finger, going, ‘You won’t need that.’ And there was just this moment when I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to feel competitive. I didn’t want my ego.”

Stung by her crisis of confidence, Tunstall decided to spend three more months traveling with her husband, Luke Bullen, which gave her the opportunity to prepare for her return to music.

There were a few shaky moments as she worked on her reinvention.

“I would suddenly be really taken down by self doubt,” she admitted. “You just wonder whether you’re going in the right direction and if you’re capable of coming back with anything that made it worth it.”

In the end, Tunstall wrote some 75 songs. Then she took a step outside of her comfort zone by hiring a new producer for “Tiger Suit,” Jim Abbiss. He was willing to help Tunstall push her limits, but he also offered a word of caution.

“I was talking about this Eddie Cochrane and Leftfield influence, and can we mash the two together,” Tunstall said. “He looked at me very sternly and said ‘You know, I’ve worked with a couple of bands who tried new stuff before, and it didn’t work, and they ended up with less than half an album, because they had to double back and just use the old part. So you really need to think carefully about it.’”

Tunstall took the warning to heart, but was committed to her vision.

“I think once the decision was made, it was kind of providence took over,” she said. “We kind of took off.”

Tunstall has plenty of reasons to be proud of the music she created on “Tiger Suit.”

The folk-pop foundation of her sound is still intact, but Tunstall does break some molds on “Tiger Suit.”

“Uummannaq Song,” with its world beat elements, has a bit of a Peter Gabriel feel. Meanwhile “Push That Knot Away” and “Glamour Puss” combine her familiar spunky brand of folk-infused pop with a new array of electronic rhythms. She stretches further on “Lost” and “Difficulty,” where synthetic sonics predominate, but Tunstall’s music still features rich and very accessible vocal melodies.

The new groove of “Tiger Suit” created one more difficult situation for Tunstall. She realized she needed to change up her touring band to play her new music.

“I shook up my band, which was really, really difficult because those guys were family and still are, but very hard after seven years of (being together),” she said. “Still, I have days just going ‘God, did I do the right thing?’ Because I miss them horribly. But I think I did.”