‘Suit’ bares Tunstall’s new stripes

Is it me, or is the general consensus of KT Tunstall that she is a cheesy singer and multi-instrumentalist with a penchant for nonsense?

Whether that’s true or not, her third studio album, “Tiger Suit,” is a mesh of the success of innovative alt-rock stompers such as “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and the floptastic 2007 album “Drastic Fantastic.”

The result is a delightful mixture that dabbles in more textured sounds, with Tunstall sinking her claws into music that is equally as light as it is dark (see “Push That Knot Away”).

The sound is also a bit more progressive, similar to a lovechild by M.I.A.’s latest venture and anything by Florence + the Machine.

In recent interviews, Tunstall talked, with little confidence, about finding a new sound when recording “Tiger Suit” called “nature techno,” which blends electronics, noise and organic instrumentation.

“Difficulty” is a strong representation of this new sound, featuring self-effacing couplets such as: “Twisting myself into shapes/ To stop you crying/ What’ll I do if I lose you/ What’ll I do if I lose.”

There’s some power in Tunstall’s tiger roar after all.