Kate Bush News

A wordy appreciation from Mark Kidel at The Arts Desk:

“Kate Bush has always steered a dangerous course between pure genius and mannerist excess. Her latest album, a hymn to snow and the icy element’s soft and crystalline associations, is no different. There are moments when she teeters on the edge of self-parody and cliché and others when she makes music that dazzles as much as it moves. She is a unique British artist, existing in a creative bubble well outside the mainstream yet never marginal or beyond the reach of popular taste. She is uniquely British too, or more exactly English, resonating with a strain of our island’s culture that cultivates eccentricity as well as a romantic streak that draws on rich poetic imagery and a sometimes over-refined take on sensuality. The album builds slowly – and its subtleties grow on you, unfolding after repeated listening … The only thing that is not surprising about Kate Bush is the constant burst of unexpected cloudbursts of inspiration … The album is at times let down by Bush’s almost flawless high-flying performance and a libido distinguished by icy spiritual grace rather than funk-tinged passion.“

Joe Kennedy in The Quietus fully engages with the ambience:

 “50 Words for Snow sees Bush devote herself entirely to the impressionistic evocation of winter scenes. It’s perhaps surprising that she hasn’t been moved to embark on such a project earlier … Bush’s habitual provocations to abandon day-to-day concerns while cultivating romantic, internal landscapes have always felt slightly like the work of someone gazing from a window into a blizzard. This, one senses, is her natural territory … Where her past work has often been heavily-layered and breathless, 50 Words for Snow uses negative space to impressive effect; much of the album features little more than voice and flurrying passages of piano which gust across the stave, changing pace and melodic direction as if they’re suddenly hitting updrafts … played and arranged so exquisitely that even the most po-faced should be able to acknowledge the scale of its achievement. One struggles to think of a record which calls to mind a particular climate as powerfully as this does…“

A wave of fantastic reviews have been coming in for the new album. You can read them over the last few pages of news postings. Today the album is released here in Ireland (I’ve taken the day off work!) and in most of Europe and Australia. Here’s another one to add to the glowing accolades: the biggest music magazine in Finland, Soundi, gave the new album 5 stars today. The full page review says the album surpasses the expectations of even the hardest fan, and the critic says he thinks this is her best album since Hounds of Love. He says, listening to this “you know you are close to greatness”. We don’t have a translation yet. (thanks to Pekka)

Music Spiel blog is very happy, and does like Sir Elton:

“Whatever preconceived perceptions you have of Kate Bush, be prepared to toss them out the window. … Bush has always kept her listeners on her toes and doing whatever the fuck she wanted whenever she wanted … It’s a very piano-driven record with minimal percussion, provided by noted session man Steve Gadd, classical-influenced themes setting the tone for every one of the 7 tracks, otherworldly vocals and endless does of ambience … The silent intensity of the album continues with each track, the focal point being a duet with Elton John of all people called “Snowed in at Wheeler Street,” … I’m not a fan of Sir Elton, but he delivers on this track. I can’t find the right words on how this album makes me feel. I’m just fucking glad that Kate Bush has managed to wow me with an album, and she still has the spirit to make riveting music after all this time. I didn’t think she was capable of another masterwork. I was wrong. And never more glad to be wrong.”