I love Bush.

[growler_south]

Kate Bush's latest album, Aerial, whispered to me through my headphones. "I'm better than you think", it said, "Just keep listening..."

And I think it may be right after all, but it's taken a fair bit of patience to get to this point. My initial impression was that I was listening to two shiny platters of self-indulgence, long on ambition but short on actual skill. If it was anyone but Kate Bish I would have given up immediately- but this is Kate! There had to be more to it! Had Ms Bush lost the plot? Lost touch? Lost the key to the studio and resorted to making the album on a small Casio keyboard and an 8-track? I had an inkling that I was missing something, and curiosity made me keep both albums on rotation rather than just ripping the accessible "Pi", "Joanni" and "Aerial" and putting the disks into storage.

I fell asleep to disk 2, "a sky of honey", and during the night it stole into my brain and explained itself to my subconscious. "What's your problem?" it said. "I'm ambient and you LOVE ambient! Try listening past the melody and the lyrics. You twat."

That's the trick. Kate's voice is so clean and clear that it's easy to overlook the instruments, to relegate the intricate arrangements to a supporting role and focus on the lyrics and melody. That would also be a huge mistake, and render most of the album unlistenable, as it did for me. The truth of the album is that Kate's voice is as much a part of the arrangements as the twittering keyboard and lush guitar work. The austere, rigid strings and harpsichord in 'bertie' are rendered bright and sparkling by Ms Bush's smooth, flowing but utterly cloying lyrics. (This would be the first song on the album I 'got', simply because I was trying desperately to listen to *anything* but the lyrics. "Lovely lovely lovely lovely Bertie" "You bring me so much joy and then you bring me... more joy". eeek... )

So in the end I think I understand this album- Kate Bush is still with us, as clever and experimental as ever, and from now on this album will reside in my 'quality' folder, along with Pink Floyd's 'the wall' and Bjork's 'vespertine'.

Comments

[lumberjackie-o.livejournal.com]

see, this one got into me right away. both discs - for very different reasons.

i think it is some of the most brilliant work ever.

and i think i am the only one who actually loves the lyrics to 'bertie'...:)

[wenchwoman.livejournal.com]

hmm, shall have to check it out.

'this woman's work' off the sensual world is one of my faves from the 80's

:)

[mikeybill.livejournal.com]

OK, I've been meaning to get it since it came out - good to hear your feedback. I'll get it tomrrow and see.