50 Words for Snow

50 Words for Snow
Studio album by Kate Bush
Released 21 November 2011
Recorded 2010-11
Genre
Length 65:29
Label Fish People/EMI
Producer Kate Bush
Kate Bush chronology
Director's Cut
(2011)		 50 Words for Snow
(2011)		 Before the Dawn
(2016)
Singles from 50 Words for Snow
  1. "Wild Man"
    Released: 11 October 2011

50 Words for Snow is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush. It is the second album to be released on her own label, Fish People.[3][4] It is her first all-new studio album since "Aerial" from 2005, and marks the first time since 1978 that she has released two new albums in one year. The album spawned one single, "Wild Man", which was released as a digital download to promote the album.

Overview

50 Words for Snow, her second album of 2011 after Director's Cut, was released on 21 November 2011. The album consists of seven songs "set against a backdrop of falling snow" and has a running time of 65 minutes.[3][5]

A radio edit of the first single "Wild Man" was played on BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show on 10 October. The single, featuring both the radio edit as well as the album version, was released on 11 October. Andy Fairweather Low guest stars on this story of a group of people exploring the Himalayas who, upon finding evidence of the elusive, mythical Yeti, out of compassion cover up all traces of its footprints. Priya Elan in the New Musical Express greeted the single with enthusiasm, saying: "For those of us who have been secretly longing for a return to the unflinchingly bizarre and Bush's ability to conjure up strange new worlds, 'Wild Man' is a deep joy."[6]

In an interview with the American radio station KCRW, Bush said that the idea for the album's title song came from thinking about the myth that Eskimos have 50 words for snow, which led her to make up increasingly fantastical words herself, such as "spangladasha", "anechoic", "blown from Polar fur", and "Robber's Veil".[7] The album's songs are built around Bush's quietly jazzy piano and Steve Gadd's drums (she had just started working with him and praised his "brilliant drumming"[7]), and utilize both sung and spoken word vocals in what Classic Rock's Stephen Dalton calls "a...supple and experimental affair, with a contemporary chamber pop sound grounded in crisp piano, minimal percussion and light-touch electronics...billowing jazz-rock soundscapes, interwoven with fragmentary narratives delivered in a range of voices from shrill to Laurie Anderson-style cooing."[8] Bassist Danny Thompson also appears on the album.

On the first track, "Snowflake", in a song written specifically to use his still high choir-boy voice,[9] Bush's son Albert sings the role of a falling snowflake in a song expressing the hope of a noisy world soon being hushed by snowfall. "Snowflake" drifts into "Lake Tahoe", where choral singers Stefan Roberts and Michael Wood join Bush in a song about a rarely seen ghost: a woman who appears in a Victorian gown to call to her dog, Snowflake. Bush explained to fellow musician Jamie Cullum in an interview on Dutch Radio[10] that she wished to explore using high male voices in contrast to her own, deeper, voice. "Misty" is about a snowman lover who melts away after a night of passion, and after "Wild Man", Elton John and Bush as eternally divided lovers trade vocals on "Snowed In at Wheeler Street", while actor Stephen Fry recites the "50 Words for Snow". The quiet love song "Among Angels" finishes the album.[11]

Two stop-motion animation videos were released online to promote the album, one to accompany a section of "Misty" (called "Mistraldespair"), the other to accompany a section of "Wild Man". "Mistraldespair" was directed by Bush and animated by Tommy Thompson and Gary Pureton,[12] while the "Wild Man" segment was created by Finn and Patrick at Brandt Animation.[13] On 24 January 2012, a third piece called "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe", was premiered on her website and on YouTube. Running at 5:01, the piece is a black-and-white shadow puppet animation that NPR's Dan Raby calls "...beautiful in its simplicity — emphasizing small subtle movements over big extravagance... The stark contrast between the black figures and the white world makes each set piece seem mystical."[14] Directed by Bush and photographed by award-winning British cinematographer Roger Pratt, the shadow puppets were designed by Robert Allsopp.[15]

The album's closing track, "Among Angels", was included in the setlist of Bush's 2014 Before the Dawn concerts. In 2015, a remixed version of "Wild Man" was included on the The Art of Peace − Songs for Tibet II compilation album celebrating the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama.[16]

Critical and commercial reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(85/100)[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[18]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[19]
The Independent[20]
Los Angeles Times[21]
NME7/10[22]
The Observer[23]
Paste Magazine8.5/10[24]
Pitchfork8.5/10[25]
Slant Magazine[26]
Spin7/10[27]

50 Words For Snow received general acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 35 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[17] On 27 November, 50 Words for Snow entered the UK album charts at #5, making Bush the first female recording artist to have an album of all new material in the top five during each of the last five decades.[28]

On 14 November 2011, NPR played the album in its entirety for the first time. In her accompanying review of the album, NPR music critic Ann Powers writes: "Each song on Snow grows as if from magic beans from the lush ground of the singer-songwriter's keyboard parts. The music is immersive but spacious, jazz-tinged and lushly electronic – the 53-year-old Bush, a prime inspiration for tech-savvy young auteurs ranging from St. Vincent to hip-hop's Big Boi, pioneered the use of digital samplers in the 1980s and is still an avid aural manipulator. This time around, drummer Steve Gadd is her most important interlocutor – the veteran studio player's gentle but firm touch draws the frame around each of her expanding landscapes. But Bush won't be restricted. Like [Joni] Mitchell on Don Juan's Restless Daughter [sic], she takes her time and lets her characters lead." Powers chose 50 words for the new album, describing it as "Powdery fantasia. Contemplative. Winter matins. Playful. Opium reverie. Grounded. Ghost story. Sensual. Artistic recalibration. Unhurried. Drummer's holiday. Quiet. Ode to the white keys. Imaginative. Exploration of the lower register. Floating. Mother-son duet. Solitary. Snowed-in erotica. Collaborative. Joni Mitchell answer record. Inimitable. Supernatural space odyssey. What we'd expect from Kate Bush."[29] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis notes that "For all the subtle beauty of the orchestrations, there's an organic, live feel, the sense of musicians huddled together in a room, not something that's happened on a Bush album before."[30]

Will Hermes in Rolling Stone writes: "[50 Words for Snow is] an LP that finds a universe of emotions in its wintery theme – a sort of virtual snowglobe ... the music ... is full of plush, drifty ambience. The vocals sound nothing like the fierce cyberbabe on her 1982 LP The Dreaming, or the strange angels on Hounds of Love, but they are no less sublime ... she sounds utterly at home defining her own world. It's an amazing place."[31] Everything Entertainment Central's Tim David Harvey says: "The album begins with the beautiful fall of a song called 'Snowflake', before getting operatic, strange and even more sublime with 'Lake Tahoe' which is as deep and decedent as the place itself, it's that kind of picturesque music," and goes on to call the album "unique, concise, cohesive classic."[32]

The Quietus' Joe Kennedy compares 50 Words for Snow to the work of such artists as Michael Nyman, Brian Eno and Scott Walker, writing "Snow brings about a state of exception in which there's no pressure to exert ourselves on the outside world: instead, it invites contemplativeness and the prioritisation of personal and domestic relationships over professional ones. Bush's habitual provocations to abandon day-to-day concerns while cultivating romantic, internal landscapes have always felt slightly like the work of someone gazing from a window into a blizzard. This, one senses, is her natural territory...Where her past work has often been heavily-layered and breathless, 50 Words for Snow uses negative space to impressive effect; much of the album features little more than voice and flurrying passages of piano which gust across the stave, changing pace and melodic direction as if they're suddenly hitting updrafts."[33] Other critics take exception to some of Bush's choices, greeting the album with skepticism. Ludovic Hunter-Tilsley in The Financial Times warns that despite "slow eddies of piano chords and gentle percussion … wintry piano, atmospheric orchestral arrangements and an intimate, torch-lit vocal from Bush, who, at 53, has acquired a warm huskiness to her voice … the album wobbles with the hammy Elton John duet "Snowed In at Wheeler St", and topples over on the title track in which Bush invites Stephen Fry to dream up 50 terms for snow … 50 Words for Snow elucidates its wintry theme with flashes of brilliance but the odd treacherous icy patch too";[34] Vivascene's Marin Nelson has trouble with the songs' long running times and Bush's "forced whimsicality"; she declares that "Bush was going for snowy surrealism, but we’re left feeling cold."[35]

Australia's ABC Radio National declared 50 Words for Snow album of the week of 12 November 2011, calling the album "quiet, lush and otherworldly."[36] Mojo placed the album at number 5 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011"[37] while Stereogum placed the album at number 11, Pitchfork placed the album at number 36 and Uncut placed it at number 40 on their lists.[38][39][40]

The album debuted, and peaked, at number 5 in the Official Charts Company UK Albums Chart with sales of 49,812 copies, before dropping to number 26 the following week with a 63% reduction in sales; the album appeared in the top 100 section of the chart for nine weeks, and despite being released in the eleventh month of 2011 was the eighth best-selling vinyl album of the year.[41] It also peaked at number 83 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, but charted in several subsections of the chart, notably reaching number 7 in the Top Independent Albums chart.[42]

Bush was nominated for 2012 BRIT Awards as Best British Female Solo Artist, but eventually lost to Adele. She also made her first official public appearance after 10 years, picking the South Bank Sky Arts Award in the Pop category for 50 Words for Snow, beating fellow nominees Adele, for 21 and PJ Harvey, for Let England Shake. The same three albums were nominated for the Best Album award at the 2012 Ivor Novello Awards, won by PJ Harvey.

Track listing

All tracks written by Kate Bush. 

No. Title Length
1. "Snowflake"   9:48
2. "Lake Tahoe"   11:08
3. "Misty"   13:32
4. "Wild Man"   7:17
5. "Snowed in at Wheeler Street"   8:05
6. "50 Words for Snow"   8:31
7. "Among Angels"   6:49
Total length:
 65:06

Personnel

Performance Credits


Production Credits






Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2011–12) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[43] 22
Austrian Albums Chart[44] 26
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[45] 18
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[46] 38
Canadian Albums Chart[47] 39
Croatian Albums Chart[48] 25
Czech Albums Chart[49] 41
Danish Albums Chart[50] 16
Dutch Albums Chart[51] 10
Finnish Albums Chart[52] 8
French Albums Chart[53] 21
German Albums Chart[54] 7
Greek Albums Chart[55] 51
Irish Albums Chart[56] 12
Italian Albums Chart[57] 38
Japanese Albums Chart[58] 49
New Zealand Albums Chart[59] 39
Norwegian Albums Chart[60] 13
Polish Albums Chart[61] 37
Scottish Albums Chart[62] 10
Swedish Albums Chart[63] 13
Swiss Albums Chart[64] 12
UK Albums Chart[65] 5
US Billboard 200[66] 83
US Rock Albums[66] 13
US Independent Albums[66] 7
US Alternative Albums[66] 9

Year-end charts

Chart (2011) Position
Danish Albums Chart[67] 78
Dutch Albums Chart[68] 88
French Albums Chart[69] 188
UK Albums Chart[70] 93

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
France 20,000[71]*
United Kingdom (BPI)[72] Gold 155,000[73]^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Levine, Nick (14 November 2011). "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Clash. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Vodicka, Gabe. "Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 Tim Jonze (12 September 2011). "Kate Bush to release new album, 50 Words for Snow". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  4. ↑ "Kate Bush to release new album '50 Words For Snow' in November". NME. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  5. ↑ Perpetua, Matthew (12 September 2011). "Kate Bush: First New Album in Six Years". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  6. ↑ Review of "Wild Man" by NME; 10 Oct 2011
  7. 1 2 Peavey, April (15 April 2011). "Kate Bush Talks About Snow and a Producer Melts". The World. PRI. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  8. ↑ Stephen Dalton describes 50 Words for Snow
  9. ↑ Bush tells Jamie Cullum "Snowflake" was written for her son
  10. ↑ Bush explains decisions regarding 50 Words for Snow
  11. ↑ Chicago Tribune review of 50 Words for Snow
  12. ↑ "Mistraldespair Animation Segment"
  13. ↑ "Wild Man" Animation Segment.
  14. ↑ NPR's First Watch reviews animation piece "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe"
  15. ↑ Credits for "Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe"
  16. ↑ "The Art of Peace – Songs for Tibet II". Kate Bush. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  17. 1 2 "50 Words for Snow Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  18. ↑ Jurek, Thom (23 November 2011). "50 Words for Snow review". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  19. ↑ Wood, Mikael (17 November 2011). "50 Words for Snow review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  20. ↑ Andy Gill (18 November 2011). "Album: Kate Bush, 50 Words For Snow (Fish People) – Reviews – Music". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
  21. ↑ "Album Review: Kate Bush's "50 Words for Snow" - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  22. ↑ "NME Album Reviews – Album Review: Kate Bush – '50 Words For Snow'". Nme.Com. 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  23. ↑ Empire, Kitty (20 November 2011). "Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow – review". The Guardian. London.
  24. ↑ Published at 1:44 PM on November 15, 2011 By Ryan Reed (2011-11-15). "Kate Bush: 50 Words For Snow :: Music :: Reviews :: Paste". Pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  25. ↑ "Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Pitchforkmedia.com. 2011-11-21. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  26. ↑ http://slantmagazine.com/music/review/kate-bush-50-words-for-snow/2691
  27. ↑ Hopper, Jessica (2011-11-21). "Kate Bush, '50 Words for Snow' (Anti-) | SPIN | Albums | Critical Mass". SPIN. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  28. ↑ Chart position
  29. ↑ Powers, Ann (13 November 2011). "First Listen: Kate Bush, 50 Words For Snow". NPR.
  30. ↑ Guardian Review of 50 Words for Snow
  31. ↑ Rolling Stone review by Will Hermes
  32. ↑ EEC's review of 50 Words for Snow
  33. ↑ Kennedy, Joe (18 November 2011). "Kate Bush / 50 Words for Snow". The Quietus. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  34. ↑ The Financial Times review of 50 Words for Snow
  35. ↑ Vivascene review of 50 Words for Snow
  36. ↑ ABC Radio National Album of the Week
  37. ↑ "MOJO's Top 50 Albums Of 2011". Stereogum. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  38. ↑ "Stereogum's Top 50 Albums of 2011". Stereogum. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  39. ↑ "Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2011". Pitchfork Media. 15 December 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  40. ↑ "Uncut's Top 50 Albums Of 2011". Stereogum. 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  41. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/16703917/six-year-high-for-vinyl-record-sales-as-singles-decline
  42. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kate-bush-mn0000855423/awards
  43. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Australian Recording Industry Association. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  44. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow" (in German). IFPI Austria. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  45. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  46. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  47. ↑ "Top 100 Albums in Canada". Nielsen SoundScan. CANOE. 8 December 2011. Archived from the original on 9 December 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  48. ↑ "Top Kombiniranih – Tjedan 47. 2011." (in Croatian). Hrvatska Diskografska Udruga. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  49. ↑ "TOP50 Prodejní – Bush Kate – 50 Words For Snow" (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  50. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". IFPI Denmark. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  51. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  52. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". IFPI Finland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  53. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  54. ↑ "Kate Bush, 50 Words For Snow" (in German). Media Control. charts.de. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  55. ↑ "Top-75 Albums Sales Chart" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  56. ↑ "Top 75 Artist Album, Week Ending 24 November 2011". Irish Recorded Music Association. Chart-Track. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  57. ↑ "Artisti – Classifica settimanale dal 21/11/2011 al 27/11/2011" (in Italian). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  58. ↑ ケイト・ブッシュのアルバム売り上げランキング [Kate Bush album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  59. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  60. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Verdens Gang. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  61. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży". OLiS. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  62. ↑ "2011 Top 40 Scottish Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  63. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Swedish Recording Industry Association. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  64. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Media Control. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  65. ↑ "Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  66. 1 2 3 4 "50 Words for Snow – Kate Bush". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  67. ↑ "Album Top-100" (in Danish). Hitlisten.NU. IFPI Denmark. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  68. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2011" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  69. ↑ "Classement Albums – année 2011" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  70. ↑ "Top selling albums, 2011". ChartsPlus. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  71. ↑ "Kate Bush dévoile un nouveau remix de "Running Up That Hill"" (in French). Charts In France. Archived from the original on October 18, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  72. ↑ "British album certifications – Kate Bush – 50 Words For Snow". British Phonographic Industry. Enter 50 Words For Snow in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  73. ↑ "Kate Bush sees 11 albums enter the Top 100 ahead of first live shows in 35 years". Official Charts. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2014.

External links

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