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Sunset
Kate Bush
Aerial
2005

Okay.  So I have like a bazillion things to say, and I don't know where to start...a list seems necessary.

1. Fusion.  Dude, like I said, when I saw the theme, I was like Jill totally picked this theme with a song in mind...and I have NO IDEA what to post.  It was like sitting at a wobbly desk for an exam you studied really hard for.  You're nervous when you sit down, but then you nearly throw up when you read the one and only question, because you have NO IDEA what the answer is.  

I liked having to think about this theme.  It was the throbbing thing at the back of my mind.  I found myself listening to every song wondering if it could be the one.  And then...

2. I remembered this song.  Before I can get to the song, I have to start with the album.  When this came out in 2005, it was Kate Bush's first studio album in thirteen years.  People were excited. 

My Dad had introduced me to Kate Bush when I first discovered Tori Amos.  He was like, "Yeah, well, whatever Tori Amos is doing...Kate Bush did it first."  I was resistant, as teenagers sometimes are, and listened to "Wuthering Heights" with only passing interest.  Okay, I have to preface this next part by admitting that up until two days ago, I had only listened to Aerial...well probably not even once.  I found "Sunset" and concluded that it was the only listenable track. 

I have an inkling that my Dad felt the same way, because he bought the album and then just passed it along, without much enthusiasm.  The liner notes feature close up pictures of Ms. Bush's toddler son and some of his original artwork.  This, of course, immediately impacted what I thought about the album, before I had even listened to it. Track 4 of disc 1 (yes, it is a double album) kind of put me off right away.  In "Mrs. Bartolozzi" Ms. Bush sings about clothes in a washing machine.  Some of the lyrics include: "Slooshy sloshy slooshy sloshy/Get that dirty shirty clean/Everything clean and shiny/Washing machine/Washing machine."  I feel like I am cheating by talking about another song, BUT you just need to understand how...unimpressed I was with this album six years ago.

3. Let's introduce: the headphones.  I was so excited to think of "Sunset" as my perfect answer to the fusion conundrum and then was doubly excited when I thought, how interesting to listen to it with the headphones.  I have always liked this song, but it was like I was REALLY hearing it...every instrument and shift in the music, for the first time.

The lyrics are simple, but I think they are lovely.  The sunset as honeycomb ..."A sky of honey/Whose shadow, long and low/Is slipping out of wet clothes" and "Who knows who wrote that song of Summer/That blackbirds sing at dusk" (incidentally, the soundwave on the album cover is blackbird song, and it is a recurring theme throughout the album).  

I love that this song starts with the piano.  Then that kind of jazzy element comes in.  I love how KB stretches out the words "sea" and "sky" and "honey"; they sound almost like incantations.  The harpsichord coupled with the kind of robotic singing...and then that quiet guitar solo.  I love that her accent is stronger when she sings "comets and stars".  I wish I could see my face the first time I listened to this song and got to 3:55...it probably registered a look of surprise and then a pleased little smile.  Flamenco?  And then those pounding drums and the male background vocals and then back to where we started with the piano. 

I realize that this is the LONGEST post of all time, BUT the headphones and my experience listening to "Sunset" after it had been a while kind of opened me up to giving the album another go.  The song about the washing machine?  It made me cry.  The Renaissance-tinged ode KB wrote for her son, Bertie?  I nearly passed out.  And, π ?  SHE SINGS PI (like 3.1415926535,,,) AND IT IS HEARTBREAKING AND BEAUTIFUL.  That's when I realized that the entire album is about fusion.  And that's when I came to the conclusion that Kate Bush is brilliant.

4. Sidenote (and totally cheating again BUT): The original version of "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" on Kate's album, Hounds of Love...Placebo's cover just does not compare (and, like, I love the Placebo, dude, but REALLY).