BUSH’S SIXTH STUDIO ALBUM IS A HEADY COMING OF AGE STATEMENT – A VIBRANT AND POWERFUL CELEBRATION OF WOMANHOOD, INTERWOVEN WITH RICH TEXTURES, FOLK INSTRUMENTATION AND SOARING VOCALS
FELIX ROWE
CLASSIC ALBUM
In a world of social media feeds clogged with spurious clickbait and AI-generated Papal puffer jackets, we must depend upon certain incontestable truths to provide grounding among the chaos: the Earth is round, one plus one is two, and – most importantly – Kate Bush is awesome. Where the genius, majesty and ongoing resonance of Ms Bush are concerned, personal opinion is irrelevant and resistance is futile. Even the eyebrow-raising headline of Kate Bush dislodging Harry Styles to top the charts on both sides of the Atlantic feels entirely plausible.
However genuinely unexpected her meteoric and record-breaking return to the public eye was last year, on reflection it’s not so fanciful when you think about it. It’s simply a reassuring affirmation of what we already knew: Kate Bush is an icon who transcends time and place, an artist equally at home dominating TikTok and Netflix as Wogan and re-runs of Top Of The Pops 2.
But eulogising and hyperbole aside, what could possibly be left to say about this woman’s work that hasn’t been said already? As we all know, it was the lead track from 1985’s Hounds Of Love – Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) – that conquered 2022 and brought her to the attention of a new generation. But a dive into her wider catalogue beyond the well-trodden paths provides rich pickings. Kate’s follow-up record, 1989’s The Sensual World, is equally deserving of our adulation. Where Hounds Of Love whets the appetite, The Sensual World delivers a banquet to feast upon.
In comparison, her sixth studio album is less self-consciously cool than its predecessor, though it’s just as compelling and sonically adventurous in ways that are not immediately apparent on first listen. What is clear instantly, though, is how it brims with its own self-contained confidence. Kate tones down some of the vocal eccentricity and bombast that made her name on earlier records for a fuller, more mature sound. The result is just as spellbinding and accomplished as any of her finest work, albeit coming from a different place.
Where Running Up That Hill has a New Wave feel, with its cold synths and jarring rhythms, The Sensual World draws its character from deeper roots, largely venturing into folk instrumentation. It’s by no means Kate’s first foray into traditional and world sounds, which are liberally scattered throughout her back catalogue. But it is arguably t
