Although this blog generally deals with news from Armenia and the South Caucasus, one other subject I post about is music. However, despite showing a little promise at the beginning of 2000, the contemporary Armenian music scene has become increasingly repetitive, predictable, unoriginal and tedious. There’s virtually no sense of individual or personal self-expression in the work of any contemporary Armenian singer or musical act.

But anyway, after Zarchka recently blogged about her own involvement with the music scene in Armenia, I started to think about female vocalists, and one in particular — the typically English Kate Bush. Even at the age of 48, she’s still a unique, remarkable and original talent.

Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on 30 July 1958 in Bexleyheath, Kent, now part of Greater London) is an English singer-songwriter with an expressive four-octave voice. She is known for her eccentric, idiosyncratic literary lyrics, and eclectic and meticulous musical and production style. She debuted in 1978 with the surprise hit “Wuthering Heights”, which was number one in the British music charts for four weeks. While this was the height of her UK singles chart success, she has retained considerable popularity.

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In terms of genre, Kate Bush is clearly part of the same British progressive rock movement that also gave rise to Genesis and Pink Floyd, although her musical style is a later manifestation of this school. Even in her earliest works where the piano was a primary instrument, Bush wove together many diverse influences, melding classical music, rock, and a wide range of ethnic and folk sources, to produce a uniquely impressive amalgam, and this has continued throughout her career. More than one reviewer has used the term “surreal” to describe much of her music, for many of the songs have a melodramatic emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorization. It has been observed that even the more joyous pieces are often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful have elements of a unique vitality struggling against all that would oppress it. The unapologetic use of her voice as an instrument to convey a broad range of emotional intensity and subtlety is one thing that characterizes nearly all that she does.

Anyway, after digging out the Wikipedia link to post as a comment at Life Around Me, it was a pleasure to discover that towards the end of last year, Kate Bush released a new album, Aerial. It’s had mixed reviews so far, but I guess that’s because Kate Bush is probably an acquired taste. However, Kate Bush releasing a new album after 12 years becomes news even if the information only gets to me in Armenia nearly one whole year later.

Aerial, Kate Bush’s first album for 12 years, has received a mixture of rave reviews and qualified praise from the national press.

“Aerial is literally incomparable,” wrote Alexis Patridis in his five-star review in the Guardian. “It is filled with things only Kate Bush would do.”

“Kate Bush’s absence has helped bring everything that makes her so special into sharper focus,” said the Mirror.

The Mail, however, called it “fitfully brilliant but mostly baffling”.

Aerial, said Adrian Thrills, “confirms her position as one of music’s true mavericks”.

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The BBC News website’s Darren Waters gave Aerial a partial thumbs-up a week ago.

“All of the songs have a swirling, almost uncontrolled creativity as if Bush has had these songs bottled up for more than a decade,” he wrote.

“Aerial stands alongside The Hounds of Love and The Kick Inside as her finest work.”

But he added: “The strangest song on the whole album is Mrs Bartolozzi, a plaintive wail seemingly about domestic chores.”

The BBC reviewed it here.

When EMI invites a group of journalists to the Royal Academy of Music, in London, for a one-off listen to Kate Bush’s new album, they are sending a clear signal - this album is not to be dismissed lightly.

Aerial is in two distinct halves - the first side, A Sea of Honey, is a collection of distinct, highly personal, sometimes impenetrably personal, songs.

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Her voice escapes, rather than emerges, in that familiar part-piercing, part-haunting tone that uniquely can carry across consonants and vowels with seductive ease.

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Side two is the album Pink Floyd might have made if Kate Bush had been their lead singer and lyricist in 1979.

Many people will hate the concept album feel to the songs and it is an acquired taste but is both sonically and lyrically a fine achievement.

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It is a very English album, with the rural feel of a John Betjeman or AE Houseman poem.

Still, it’s a pity that there’s no Trio Bulgarka on this album. I bought their amazing Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares after hearing them singing backing vocals on two of Kate Bush’s albums.

Trio Bulgarka is a Bulgarian vocal ensemble, previously known as ‘Bulgarka Folk Trio’ and also known as “Three Golden Coins”.

They gained international prominence through their contributions to the groundbreaking 1975 world music album Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, originally released on the Swiss label Disques Cellier and later reissued on Britain’s 4AD Records and the German Jaro label.

The trio comprises Stoyanka Boneva from Pirin, Yanka Rupkina from Strandja and Eva Georgieva from Dobroudja. Their diversity of regional backgrounds enabled them to create a unique sound to their music. They signed to record labels Bulgaria Balkanton and Hannibal in 1987. Two years later they featured on The Sensual World album by Kate Bush on the songs ‘Deeper Understanding’, ‘Never Be Mine’ and ‘Rocket’s Tail’.In 1993 they appeared on another Kate Bush album The Red Shoes on the songs ‘You’re The One’, ‘The Song of Solomon’, and ‘Why Should I Love You?’ which also featured Prince. The trio have since concentrated on solo projects but often re-form for concert appearances.

Back to Kate Bush, and while the Wikipedia page lists singers and musical acts such as Madonna, Björk, Coldplay, Suede and Prince as noting her as an influence and inspiration, the most succinct accolade has got to come somewhat surprisingly from former Sex Pistols front man, Johnny Rotten.

Even the iconoclastic punk rocker John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) has declared her work to be “fucking brilliant” and has labelled her “a true original.”

Anyway, I wonder. Will the album be available anywhere in Yerevan? After watching the video to King of the Mountain from the album, I’m off to take a look.