Kate Bush: Aerial

By Stephanie Szuda

More than a decade since her last release, Kate Bush finally has come out with new work.

Bush is, in a way, the original Tori Amos, except her lyrics are different. They’re not necessarily deep, yet still creative. “Pi” is an interesting song about a man who loves numbers. Half the song Bush sings the numbers to pi, high pitched, low pitched, one right after another. A very catchy way to memorize the first 60 some numbers to the mathematical symbol, for those who have too much time on their hands.

In “How To Be Invisible,” Bush sings how she found a book explaining how to become invisible. All you need to do is “take a pinch of keyhole and fold yourself up,” she sings softly. “Then cut along the dotted line/ you think inside out.”

Many songs create a very dreamy scene, such as “A Coral Room” and “Nocturn.” She slowly stretches every note with the sound of only a piano over the first nearly two minutes of a more than eight minute long song. It feels like forever. Although it’s what one would expect when the prelude is birds chirping, a piano playing and a child asking for her mummy.

I wouldn’t say the songs are catchy, even after a few listens, They all have a unique sound, but they still share one general trait – they’re all incredibly slow. The songs are very mellow, her voice seldom speeds up and neither does the music. So after awhile they become a bit repetitive.

Although her voice is beautiful and melodic, the music doesn’t really move the listener.