"50 Words for Snow" by Kate Bush
“50 Words for Snow,” Kate Bush (Anti-Records)
For those in temperate climates, winter tends to be the most enigmatic season. It prompts thoughts of darkness, isolation and death. Yet for some, its subtle mysteries also bring about notions of romance, playfulness and sensuality.
Kate Bush hangs all of these associations on winter’s most fragile icon, the snowflake, with her gorgeous new “50 Words for Snow.”
The veteran U.K. artist relies on her deeper range here, much as she did earlier this year with “Director’s Cut” (a revamping of her older material), and she sinks into her compelling concept, absorbing her listeners and pulling them down with her into her elaborate netherworld.
“50 Words for Snow” stretches 7 tracks over 65 minutes, giving Bush ample time to set up her atmosphere and explore. Opening track “Snowflake” and closer “Among Angels” bookend the release with somber and thick piano resonance, back-dropping her preternatural, deliberate voice and lyrics like, “We’re over a forest/There’s millions of snowflakes/We’re dancing” and, “There’s someone who’s loved you forever, and you don’t know it.”
Typical of Kate Bush, the singer veers far afield on the remaining tracks, though never far from wintry precipitation. An eerie choir and keyboard reverberations help her conjure a ghost on “Lake Tahoe,” and the more emphatic cadence of “Misty” leads her rambling encounter with a snowman (whose “crooked mouth is full of dead leaves”) to a slow-evolving meltdown. Meanwhile, her restraint in the theatrics of the yeti-themed “Wild Man” comes to a head with her utterly calm declaration, “You’re a wild man.”
Bush also features noteworthy guests on “50 Words for Snow”: Actor Stephen Fry navigates through the electronic shuffle-and-pop of the title track, clicking through snow terms against her exhortations (“Come on man, you’ve got 44 to go!”), and Bush and Elton John duet on “Snowed in at Wheeler Street,” weaving around the pulsing notes as they share past-life memories of their previous relationships with each other, concluding, “I don’t want to lose you again.”
Bush has settled down from the extroverted drama she displayed as a teen in the 1970s (continuing on through the 1980s and beyond), but she’s still making mind-bending music. And snow has never seemed so heavy.
Rating: 4
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Comments » 1
BigScaryAnimal writes:
I've heard only 2 tracks off the album so far ("Snowflakes" and "Wild Man"), and my impression of them both was about 4 stars. "Wild Man" starts off great, but unfortunately the chorus falls a bit flat--and Andy Fairweather Low's voice is overpowering and grating.
Unfortunately, it seems that Kate's penchant for memorable hooks has mostly faded. I've read in a couple different places the theory that most pop artists peak, in terms of creating killer hooks, by the time they reach 30, or at least 35. I think that's true for the most part, although artists like Madonna still seem to have the knack (though to a lesser degree) even in their 50s.
So far, it seems that this album is getting the typical sycophantic views from the media. PJ Harvey's competent (but not stellar) album from earlier this year received the same, unfortunately. When you're a critics' darling--Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Aimee Mann, and Sarah McLachlan come to mind--you'll get good reviews no matter what you do. In fact, I think they're all overrated to some degree. The latter two have become boring and predictable, and Harvey isn't as interesting as she used to be. Kate Bush is still the best of the bunch, but truth be told, not all her albums are masterpieces. I wouldn't give any of them (with the exception of DC from earlier this year, which I haven't heard completely but was put off by) less than 3 1/2 stars, but the only album of hers that I would truly consider a masterpiece is "The Dreaming."
It's disappointing that Kate isn't really creating the memorable melodies she used to, but it's comforting to know she can still make quality music, even if the cliché about "repeated listens" must sometimes be invoked. ;) Anyway, I think I'll be ordering the CD soon.
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