Kate Bush

Add Date: November 29 

Artist: Kate Bush 

Album: 50 Words for Snow 

Label: ANTI- 

Genre: Pop, experimental 

Comments: I've always felt some sort of kinship with other people named Kate. Obviously, my name is not the most identifying trait about myself, but I believe in enough of fate, superstition, and God to think that all the girls in the world named Kate share some common and special feature. Kate Bush proves the exception to this rule--not because I don't identify with her early, yet enduring tunes or the evolved music that she has released in my lifetime, but because to say that I identify with her would seem an impossibility; she lives with her music somewhere far above the rest of us.

This removal from mere mortals can clearly be heard in 50 Words for Snow. In "Snowflake"--the straightforward story about the journey of a snowflake (voiced by her son)--Bush quietly explores the echelons of haunting pianos and high-reaching vocals in an effect that is all at once dark and heavenly. The next six tracks remove Bush even further from the norms--mainly by her dedication to long songs ("Wild Man" is the shortest track, yet it still spans 7 minutes). This longevity not only shows that Bush has earned the privilege of doing whatever she likes in this business, but that her style has grown from bits of idiosyncrasy to a sprawling illustration of the desperate, bizarre, and hazardous life.