FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty-Five
The Trio Bulgarka and a Musical Change of Direction
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FOLLOWING the success and promotion…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with the Trio Bulgarka
of Hounds of Love, there was a bit of transition and change for Kate Bush. It was four years between the release of Hounds of Love and The Sensual World in 1989. Ahead of the thirty-fifth anniversary of The Sensual World on 16th October, I did want to look at the way things changed for Bush. One of the biggest shifts and most notable additions to The Sensual World was the Trio Bulgarka. Bush first heard the trio – Yanka Rupkina, Eva Georgieva and Stoyanka Boneva – in 1985 at the end of the Hounds of Love recording sessions. I am dipping into Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson once more for reference and insight. It was a real transformative period after Hounds of Love. Most of 1986 was spent promoting still and, even after that, Bush could not instantly transition into a new album. There were songs attempted and abandoned. A period where she could not write anything and needed time out. It is quite a leap going from her 1985 masterpiece and The Sensual World. In terms of the sound and palette, they are very different works. Bush connecting more with her sensual and feminine side. Hitting thirty in 1988, this was someone whose priorities had changed. Her outlook on life and music. You can hear that all feed through and bleed into the songs on The Sensual World. It was her brother Paddy Bush who opened the artist’s eyes to the Trio Bulgarka. Bush was devastated by their voices and it inspired her. Influenced by music from various corners of the world, perhaps there was a connection between the Irish music on her mother’s side and how that was present on Hounds of Love and the peasant music of Bulgaria. These two cultures combining on The Sensual World’s title track. It is that sense of romance, wild, wind, landscape and the picturesque that is summoned. Bush took several years to connect the Trio, as she was reluctant to integrate such heady and noble music into Pop.
It was producer Joe Boyd who helped broker a connection. Kate Bush phoned him up in his office and said that he was the man who could help her. That Boyd knew about Bulgarian music. Boyd has worked with the likes of Fairport Convention and Nick Drake. It was the first time Bush brought female vocalists into her music in such a direct and prominent way. Her trip to Sofia in October 1988 was a culture clash. She stayed there over the weekend and, shortly, all four women returned to London. There was this intensity over a few days where three songs were worked on. It was a huge impact on The Sensual World. Altering the sound altogether. It was early-1987 before Bush seriously committed to writing for the album. She wrote This Woman’s Work specifically for the comedy film, She’s Having a Baby. A song written quickly to a particular scene and visual, I think that there was something in that song and setting it to such an emotional scene that opened her mind and led her in a new direction. It wasn’t only vocal impetus and new possibility that affected and guided Kate Bush’s songwriting. The studio and technology Bush employed was also important. After Bush built her own home studio for Hounds of Love, she no longer had to rely on expensive spaces and foreign spaces. The farm studio where Kate Bush and Del Palmer worked on for Hounds of Love was upgraded/altered. An SSL console was brought in. Perhaps less reliant on technology and gadgets than Hounds of Love, there was focus on the purity and heart of the song. Her production less layered and complex than it was on 1982’s The Dreaming. It would become more layered and busy by 1993’s The Red Shoes. Maybe less conceptual or advanced as she was used to, the main equipment was the Fairlight III and DX7 synth. She recorded demos and then took a few months out as she was finding it hard to find her direction.
The Sensual World started out a very different album to what it became. Wanting to release an album that was ten short stories. Whereas the songwriting and schedule was not as rigid and hectic as it was on albums past, that did not impact quality and ambition. Bush realising that committing too much of herself to the music was having a detrimental impact. The most notable takeaways from The Sensual World is the working method and sounds. Del Palmer and Kate Bush could work on a song and take it home if they want. They could then take a break and spend a few days away. Very different to what she was used to. This was the later days of their romantic relationship. Palmer was the principal engineer, but one wonders how many of the more romantic songs on The Sensual World were based on Bush’s relationship or more general observations. Wonderfully unusual instruments like a valiha or tupan were brought in. Various musicians adding their own shades and colours. Continuity in the form of warm hospitality from the Bush family bringing food and drink. It seemed like a much less pressured environment and surrounding when we even think back to Hounds of Love. The Sensual World was very much more about the songwriting than pushing the studio and the technology of the day. Also, by the late-1980s, musical tastes and fashions had changed. Another album that sounded like Hounds of Love would not fit into the scene and what was around then. Bush, moving into her thirties, wanted to embrace female energy. Positive energy. The Sensual World reflects that. More seductive and explorative than the more direct and harder-sounding songs on Hounds of Love. The Sensual World divides some because it is so different to Hounds of Love.
One cannot blame Bush for not wanting to repeat herself. As Graeme Thomson notes, The Sensual World is about human connections and discovering what is important in life. Bush explained how she wants to connect with what is important in life. What is missing. Throw away things that were tying her down and getting in the way. A more mature and forward-looking album. An album where she was thinking about herself and seeking meaning, rather than any commercial drive or creating an album that would show critics after some of the reaction to The Dreaming. In some way, Bush might have been thinking about family and settling. Perhaps spending time away from music. Certain events put that on hold. Her mother died in 1992. Two of her friends, guitarist Alan Murphy and dancer Gary Hurst, died of the result of AIDS. Murphy died of pneumonia which weakened his immune system. Thinking about Kate Bush’s association with the Trio Bulgarka, I think that this is the most significant aspect of The Sensual World. How Bush and Joe Boyd were in Sofia and drove around with a translator to find meeting spots. Bush’s structure and writing meant the backing track could not be tinkered with and changed later. The Trio Bulgarka lack of English meant that it was a case of translation and some error. Taking a bit of time to click. However, there was this instant bond and affection between Bush and the Trio. This sisterly appreciation and respect. The Trio spending a couple of days in a school room with a beat-box and a tape of tracks. I loved how there was a back and forth between the arranger and the ethnographer. Translator Borimira Nedeva helped out hugely getting the Trio to London. At the time, it was quite hard travelling between the U.K. and Bulgaria and travelling around Bulgaria is you were foreign. Nedeva pulled strings and took big risks because she loved Kate Bush and wanted her and the Trio to work together.
Borimira Nedeva was crucial in London when it came to translating conversation and music. Recording out of Angel Studios, the few days they were there were quite long and tough. Smiles, hugs and physical contact the most powerful connection given the language barriers. Though it was a difficult process getting the vocals down and blending in the Trio Bulgarka to The Sensual World, you can notice the difference it made! Think about the songs they are on – including The Sensual World and Rocket’s Tail -, and there is this power and sensation that one could not hear in any other album from 1989. In the past, when Bush wanted to bring unusual instruments or sounds into her music, they could usually be played by Paddy Bush or one of her musicians. Her Irish sessions easy to complete compared to working with a trio who spoke Bulgarian. However, knowing that their voices and talent would add something exceptional to her sixth studio album, she committed a lot of time and effort to making it happen. I really love The Sensual World and do not think that it gets enough acclaim. In another anniversary feature, I will discuss how it was perceived. In the third and final anniversary feature, I want to go deeper into the songs. Those bigger numbers and the ones that are deeper. On 16th October, it will be thirty-five years since the release of Bush’s sixth studio album. Following on from Hounds of Love, maybe the public were expecting something very similar. 1989 was a year when Pop was changing. Madonna’s Like a Prayer. Hip-Hop classics from De La Soul and Beastie Boys. Bands like The Stone Roses releasing masterpieces. Even if Bush did not exactly fit into the scene of 1989, she did at least know she needed to change and evolve. What she did release in 1989 is an album that is…
ONE of her very best.