Category: Reviews Page 7 of 10

9/10 from Andrzej Lukowski at Drowned in Sound:

“Here she delves monomaniacally into snow and the winter – its mythology, its romance, its darkness, its rhythmic frenzy and glacial creep. 50 Words for Snow is artic and hoare frost and robin red breast, sleepy snowscapes and death on the mountain, drifts in the Home Counties and gales through Alaska. But it is mostly, I think, a record about how the fleeting elusiveness of snow mirrors that of love; and if I’m off the mark there, then certainly as a work of music one can view it as a sort of frozen negative to Aerial’s A Sky of Honey…the first three songs clock in at over half an hour and comprise the starkest, most difficult and in some ways most beautiful passage of music in Bush’s career. Based on minimal, faltering piano and great yawning chasms of silence, these tracks mirror the eerie calm of soft, implacable snowfall and winter’s dark…it’s also about Bush’s formidable production skills, her precise, nagging synths and total mastery of studio as instrument…in the 26 years since Hounds of Love, Aerial and 50 Words for Snow have been her only truly fully realised albums. Kate Bush is more than fallible; but at peak she is incomparable.”

Enchanted review from Ryan Reed at Paste Magazine:

“Snow, perhaps in response to the noise that clogs our every waking human moment, is defined by its stirring stillness—the radiating quiet that haunts every ghostly piano drop and evaporating syllable … wintry, unhurried atmosphere defines every second of 50 Words for Snow, Bush’s most striking work since 1989’s The Sensual World. Each track varies only slightly in structure, filled with the same level of sonic craft we’ve come to expect from Bush…” (The album is rated 8.5 out of 10)

Lucy Jones on her Telegraph blog sees 50 Words as evidence that those over 30 can’t write a pop song. Did she really expect pop songs?

“She’s difficult to critique because she is so the sum of her parts. I feel uncomfortable not loving this album because I think she’s a genius (she’s my second most listened to artist on iTunes). I really want to love it and it feels strange that I don’t … Part of the problem is that 50 Words For Snow is a concept album. Cue groans and rolling of eyes … The obvious pitfall for artists making a concept album is the risk that their songs will sound “samey”. And even though there are independent standout moments on some of the tracks … 50 Words cannot hide from this criticism … Hardcore fans will think this album is sublime and it is very Kate: unpredictable, expansive, devoid of cliché … 50 Words for Snow will be a disappointment to some; Kate’s set the bar high. But it’s still the best secular Christmas album ever released.”

Tod Martens at Tone Audio waxes poetic:

“An artisan of the piano, Bush was always more chamber than concert hall. But 50 Words for Snow begs the listener closer, its hushed quality a cleverly crafted comfort to disguise the turmoil underneath … On 50 Words for Snow, Bush splits the difference between … stark realism and the odder, more otherworldly thoughts that mark much of her 80s-era work … The Elton John duet “Snowed in At Wheeler Street,” however, is heartbreak at its most haunting. London smog, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and burning Rome are among the images that reverberate around a buzzing, horror-soundtrack keyboard..”

Update: This link below also now has the full album as an NPR exclusive stream. Those waiting for the physical CD/vinyl album first-listen should avoid! 🙂

Ann Powers at NPR loves 50 Words for Snow:

“It’s a fun game to mimic the task that England’s elusive empress of art rock devised for her 10th studio long-player out Nov. 21. Approaching this release from different angles, speaking of it in different metaphors, piques the imagination while creating a kind of unity of thought, just as limiting herself to stories inspired by winter weather clearly did for Bush … But the phrase that might spring first from the lips of Bush fans digging into Snow is, “Welcome home!” In seven long tracks, the album does just what the best of Bush’s work has done since she burst on the scene … It melds extravagant tales to unconventional song structures, and spirits the listener away into Bush’s distinctive hyperreality. Each song on Snow grows as if from magic beans from the lush ground of the singer-songwriter’s keyboard parts. The music is immersive but spacious, jazz-tinged and lushly electronic … But the tighter focus of Snow makes it one of Bush’s most cohesive works … Spinning variations on a theme instead of offering one long narrative, Bush reimagines the concept album as a poet would, connecting its elements with delicate thread … We who treasure her can rejoice that she cut a path so quickly … The once moderately reclusive artiste may be entering a fruitful late season. Let’s hope she continues on her elemental mission. One hundred words for starlight, maybe, Kate?”

Very enthusiastic review of 50 Words from Stephanie Myers at Music Feeds in Australia:

“Bush’s music and living legacy as an artist has the respect of her peers and her contemporaries in spades here, and it shows. Moreover, with this album, it’s clear that she’s adept at creating slow, gorgeous song-stories that take their time to unfold. They are, in essence, pieces that revel in themselves without bothering to revel in the past … 50 Words for Snow offers Bush at her prime … it’s an album that’s more than likely to nab her a new generation of devotees.”

Stephen Dalton at Classic Rock hands in a 7/10 review of 50 Words:

“a more supple and experimental affair, with a comtemporary chamber pop sound grounded in crisp piano, minimal percussion and light-touch electronics … These compositions, none below seven minutes long, unravel into billowing jazz-rock soundscapes, interwoven with fragmentary narratives delivered in a range of voices from shrill to laurie Anderson-style cooing … Bush seems to tap a 21st century vein of pastoral Englishness that chimes with recent avant-folk excursions by Polly Harvey and Radiohead. The Snow Queen of Albion’s electric eden is back to reclaim her throne.”

Will Hermes in Rolling Stone (this one is not yet on line):

“an LP that finds a universe of emotions in its wintery theme – a sort of virtual snowglobe … the music … is full of plush, drifty ambience. The vocals sound nothing like the fierce cyberbabe on her 1982 LP The Dreaming, or the strange angels on Hounds Of Love, but they are no less sublime … she sounds utterly at home defining her own world. It’s an amazing place.”

At Holy Moly, Tim Chipping begins to run out of superlatives:

“50 Words For Snow is a slowly unfolding, dense and serious work. Not so much a set of songs as a collection of sung short stories, backed by her most perfect and economical piano playing to date. And while Kate’s once limitless voice is now fried round the edges, her ability to communicate precise emotion and character remains the very best, and most affecting pop music has ever had to offer. If the underrated Aerial was child-focused and playful, 50 Words is adult and profound … We came to this record expecting to find fault, to notice a diminishing in her once impeccable judgment and to hear an artist from the past, far from the top of her game. What we found was the opposite, and so much more. 50 Words For Snow is simply extarordinary.” The album is rated 10/10.

Jude Rogers reviews Kate’s new album on the BBC Music site:

“reflects a season which brings out the profound and absurd in equal measure – the feelings of longing and loneliness that emerge as the dark nights bed in, the party-hat silliness that pops up when the same nights stretch out … The album only really reaches the heights Bush has set for herself when she appears centre stage. Her voice is noticeably older now, full of earth, heft and husk, and works stunningly well with little more than her piano’s sustain pedal … 50 Words for Snow may threaten to lose its way in the blizzard sometimes, but it is moments like these – jolting us from her world for a moment, reminding us of how all-embracing her talent can be – that show just how much she can move us with her fire and ice…“

Priya Elan has published his initial reaction to Kate’s new album track by track on the NME Reviews Blog

“For anyone who has longed for Bush at her most elemental, just her and her piano, their wish is granted. Here we find Bush magically musing about the white stuff, over romantically elongated mood pieces … the theme that is deeply ingrained within the whole album – emotional partners finding each other through space, time and consequence …

Verdict: “A concept executed with grace, subtlety and just in time to soundtrack your Christmas. There’s a depth and gravitas here that slowly reveals itself over repeated listens“.

Following the very nice four-star review from Pete Paphides in the current Mojo Magazine, we have news of two more. Q Magazine reviews the album in its forthcoming issue and awards it four stars. Victoria Segal writes: “Given her glacial work rate, it’s fitting that Kate Bush’s 10th album should be snow-themed…the follow-up to 2005’s Aerial is no jolly Christmas album…Bush’s husky vocals rise through an ominous piano fog, generating a silvery chill even as the lyrics of Snowflake, reminiscent of The Red Shoes’ Moments Of Pleasure, or Misty’s strange snowman love song, yearn for human warmth.”  Elsewhere in the magazine Q recommends Misty as a track to download. Uncut, the other major UK monthly music magazine, also gives the album 4-stars and deems it “Album of the Month.” In the review, John Mulvey finds Misty “extraordinary” and Among Angels “beautifiul and glacial”. Snowflake and Lake Tahoe are described as “slow, long songs….the cumulative effect is remarkable”