Wow.
wow
wow
I suppose that could be me quoting a Kate Bush song, but it's not - or not only that: it's the response after half a dozen listens to the new (double) album. It's been great reading other folks' reviews too because they're pulling out things (this one at Play Louder is great)- a flamenco at the end of Somewhere in Between for instance; the lyrics of Mrs. Bartolozzi - that get missed in the first listen- make a track worth going back to, and there is so much to go back to.
My current fave is Nocturn/Aerial. Two songs but they blend into each other in a way that just makes a listener want to run and run and run, the build is so expressive, so explosive. Bush's vocal layerings - her mixes in these her productions are so compelling. Find Nocturn, find someplace where you can play it loud and see if it doesn't make you want to yell! (in a good way).
Here's one thing i haven't found other reviewers talking about but in passing: Bush's laughter in Aerial, or just the recurrence of bird song throughout. In an interview this month in Mojo, Bush talks about her interest in this other language. The album asks repeatedly what is this language - either explicitly in Sunset, or implicitly just by its presence throughout the album Aerial Tal is filled with it), or Bush's call and response laughing against bird calls in Aerial "all the birds are laughing, come on let's join in." Excuse me? Not the way i'd thought of bird song, or what to do with it, before, to be sure. it's GREAT!.
One of the best lines (why, i dunno) in a song i've heard lately is Bush singing in Aerial "i feel i wanna be up on the roof; i feel i gotta be up on the roof up on the roof up on the roof" With its insistent ryhthmn, it's another yell, another ya ya ya!
Bush has a small web site to support the album. One of the best attributes of it (one of the only ones so far. Where's the back button, Kate?) is access to the lyrics to share with people while you're playing your tunes.
Though the site currently has very little content, the way it's put together sets a tone, creates a pace: the animation is subtle (birds flying over the water).
The cover art completes the whole: the frequency pattern on the cover of the cd connects to the theme of the aerial, and also - as shown on the site - blends/fades into the shape of a honey colored sunset across the water.
There is such a completeness or connectedness to each of these elements, that again, the pleasure just grows in the seeing a little more each time. If you're into these tunes, do search for other reviews. They'll help find those precious bits in Bush's a sky of honey a sea of honey.
wow wow wow
Posted by mc at November 10, 2005 12:35 AM