Kate Bush - How To Be Invisible

When the cover for the new Kate Bush album Aerial was brought up over on the Gum a couple of weeks ago, one commenter seemed perplexed by the mention and even compared Ms. Bush to Suzanne Vega. Come again? It makes some sense that today's hipsters might not make the connection with the impact Bush has made on modern music, influencing everyone from PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette, Sarah Mclauchlan, Tori Amos and even 21st Century rock bands such as the Futureheads, since most of them had yet to grow grass on the field the last time she put out an album. Here's a connection they might understand - Mercury Prize winner Antony of Antony and the Johnsons admitted after winning that the first artist he obsessed about was Kate Bush.

Discovered by David Gilmour (from a little band called Pink Floyd) who took time out at Abbey Road Studios during the recording of Wish You Were Here to ask the his record label to listen to Bush's demos, she was just 16 at the time and EMI signed her soon after. Instead of putting out an album immediately, she was allowed to develp her talents and at 19 she released her first single. At the height of the punk movement in 1978, Bush released a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, Wuthering Heights, and ended up topping the charts. 10 years before the alternative movement, Bush was integral in birthing a whole new genre of music.

On Aerial it's more of the same - but since no one else has quite mastered Bush's eccentricities, it's still quite intriguing. This time she sings about Elvis, Joan of Arc, washing machines, she even recites pi to the 114th decimal place in one song. I like to describe Bush as music for readers. This track is about her disdain for celebrity, which she has shown by being known as one of rock's most famous recluses.

BONUS TRACK: Sunset