FEATURE:
I Turn to My Computer….
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at a Fairlight CMI demonstration
Kate Bush: A Mix of the Modern and Traditional
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AFTER hearing…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo
Kate Bush interviewed by Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour, it got me thinking about a subject that I have explored before. Bush is this wonderful mix of qualities and people. On the one hand, she is grounded and relatable and very human. Someone that is like us and has this love of home and family. On the other, she is an extraordinary talent who has enjoyed an enormously successful career. When it comes to her music, she fused the otherworldly and heavenly with something rooted in the heart. Quite rightly, Bush is seen as a technological innovator. She was not only exploring new territory and subjects with her lyrics from her debut album, The Kick Inside (1978); Bush was also quick to embrace new technology and use it to stunning effect. At a time when the Fairlight CMI was reserved to a privileged few, she saw the benefits and possibilities of an amazing thing that could offer a world of choice. She could record basic sounds and put them into the Fairlight CMI and utilise it in the music. From the sound of breaking glass in Babooshka (Never for Ever, 1980), to a range of sounds throughout Hounds of Love (1985), this provided her music new levels and layers. Her sense of innovation and forward-thinking extended to her liver work. The Tour of Life in 1979 and 2014’s Before the Dawn were groundbreaking in terms of their concept, scope and how they incorporated so many different elements. Especially in 1979, Pop and Rock concerts were quite basic and similar. Bush brought in mime, magic, theatre, and dance into an experience that was more like a film or theatrical show.
It was wonderful hearing Bush speak to Woman’s Hour about technology. She was recognised as an innovator. Bush talked about the Fairlight CMI and how that helped her. Even though she has a laptop and uses streaming for T.V. (as she binge-watched Stranger Things), she also admitted to having an ancient mobile phone. She was speaking to Emma Barnett on a landline. If her music is renowned for being forward-pushing and innovative, there is something more traditional and oldskool when it comes to the domestic Kate Bush! Maybe it is a generational thing. Bush is not someone who lures after the latest Smartphone and checks it all the time. Wanting to detach and disconnect from technology and constant demand when she is out and about, she is someone who can cope fine with less technology in her pocket. As she observed in her song, Deeper Understanding (first appearing in 1989’s The Sensual World, it was re-recorded for 2011’s Director’s Cut), we are transfixed and obsessed by computers. Almost like friends. In 1989, at a point in history when the Internet was not a thing and computers were basic, Bush was seeing into the future. She knew how they were taking over our lives! It is not a surprise, given that observation and wariness, that she is not a technology nut. Although Deeper Understanding looks at the heroine greeting her computer and staying on it too long, Bush has said in interviews how she is not online a lot and notes how we are too obsessed with computers and social media.
One could say that Bush’s albums post-Hounds of Love were not as innovative as her earlier ones. As a producer, she has always looked at new sounds and ways of recording. Bush is a very experienced, knowing and confident producer who has this warmth and bond with her musicians. She also knows what she wants and has this way of finding possibilities and sounds others would not. A big part of this is her use of the studio and technology. There is that divide between Bush’s curiosity when it comes to technology in music and an apathy and lack of affection when it comes to modern technology (phones, social media etc.). She is not on Twitter or TikTok. One suspects she has an old-version Smartphone, and she is not someone who embraces that side of modern living. If anything, that makes it more appealing, lovable, and mysterious. Because of this, she is not overexposed. There is this constant speculation around new music because Bush is away from social media and works privately at home. Even if she has this very casual relationship with modern technology, she is still someone pushing boundaries. Even when recording to tape (which she prefers to get a warmer sound), one can listen to her albums and marvel at the way she arranges and producers her songs. From the innovative early use of the Fairlight CMI in 1980, through to the awes-inspiring Hounds of Love, the conceptual suite on the double album, Aerial (2005), her embrace of the different, technological, and original has defined her work. This sits alongside someone who would eschew modern technology for communication and remain more rooted in an older way of life. In her homelife, Bush is much more comfortable not having distraction or leaning on technology. Because of that, she is…
A magnificent contradiction!