50 Words for Snow

At the time of writing (2022) this is Kate Bush’s last released album of new material, and what a strange and suspenseful ellipsis it is. It is, yes, a concept album about snow, released in November 2011, perfectly in time for the English winter — and it really, really feels seasonal. Everything about it is subdued, intimate, gently hymnal. Among other choral guest singers, it even includes Bush’s own son Albert’s unbroken choirboy voice — but for all the hints of church, there are strange pagan undercurrents too. Bush’s own voice is distinctly deepened with age and — as with the contemporary work of that other ’80s Brit maverick who likes to keep us waiting, Sade — she leans into that, the slow moodiness emphasising it. There are hints of Leonard Cohen and Scott Walker at play, a lot of mischievous humour despite the low-key mood, and a gorgeous feeling of people singing and playing together, in contrast to her heavily studio-arranged previous albums.