AERIAL

By the time Kate released The Sensual World, it was clear that she was moving away from the the dreamy, playful, hyper-feminine textures that dominated her early works, as she moved toward a more electronic form of mundane pop music. Also gone was the beautiful 4-octave coloratura soprano voice which was already starting to show signs of wear duing her masterpiece, Hounds of Love. But even the Sensual World had a flicker of what remained of Kate's delicate essence. The followup, The Red Shoes, on the other hand, was a disaster, both musically, and lyrically. For this reason, I was skeptical of adding the new effort, Aerial to my vast collection of Kate Bush works. I was pleasantly surprised. While the electronic sounds still dominate (especially on the 2nd disc), Kate deserves a lot of credit for Aerial. This album has a pleasant sound, like the Sensual World, and is mch more enjoyable than the Red Shoes.