Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

• Hounds of Love was Kate Bush's fifth studio album released in 1985
• Bush sings lead vocals, plays piano and plays Fairlight CMI
• The Fairlight CMI is a computer musical instrument - an early sampler/sequences/synthesiser
• Her brother Paddy plays violin, balalaika and sings harmony vocals in Under Ice
• The album uses a typically wide range of additional instrumental and performers
• Vinyl albums were produced with two sides, a physical division. There is the more 'up-tempo' (poppy) songs of one side (concluding with Cloudbusting) and the more 'arty'-related songs (The Ninth Wave)
• The Ninth Wave evokes the feelings and experiences of an individual drifting alone on the sea at night:

  'And Dream of Sheep' - Drifting in the sea, awaiting rescue

  'Under Ice' - In a dream0like state the narrator is skating on ice alone. She sees herself in the reflection under the ice
• Range is the word we use to describe the entire compass of a vocal or instrumental part, or the compass of what a particular performer is capable of. A range can be narrow or wide.
• Tessitura or Register is the specific part of the range which is used for specific moments or songs. A tessitura or register can therefore be low or high.
• A Concept Album is based around a central theme, the tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. The album should be listened to together in order to understand the full concept
• The balalaika is a Russian instrument like a guitar with a triangular body, 3 strings
• The bouzouki is a long-necked form on a mondolin
• Cloudbusting: Conventional use of instruments, but lacks some of the traditional backing instruments of rock and pop styles: drums, bass, and guitar
• Cloudbusting: Main accompaniment is the string sextet,

  These play:

  Short staccato chords creating a strong crotchet pulse

  Violin riff at the start of each chorus

  Violin countermelody in verse 2
• Cloudbusting: Keyboard-triggered Fairlight samples

  Treated vocal sample

  Sampled tracks in instrumental section

  Samples steam engine sounds at end
• Cloudbusting: Bush uses a range of a 10, in a mid-range with a syllabic setting of words
• Cloudbusting: Drums and percussion used sparingly
• A countermelody is a melodic line played in counterpoint with amore prominent lead melody
• And Dream of Sheep: Dominated by the voice and piano
• And Dream of Sheep: Bouzouki adds decorating lines
• And Dream of Sheep: Dramatic piano style
• And Dream of Sheep: spoken vocal sample, in the style of the radio shipping forecast
• And Dream of Sheep: Final phrase uses word paining, as the vocal line descends to the words 'deeper and deeper'
• Under Ice: All accompaniment here is synthesised/sampled, produced through the Fairlight CMI
• Under Ice: Lead vocals use low tessitura
• Under Ice: vocal range of a 5th (except for 'cry' in the last phase)
• Under Ice: Lead vocals harmonised during refrain
• Under Ice: Lead vocals are mainly syllabic with some melismas
• Under Ice: Last sounds is a sustained vocal sample, with a filer sweep
• Cloudbusting:

  • Extended verse-chorus form.
  • Lacks an introduction but has a long outro/coda.
  • Uses the common device of going straight to a final chorus after the instrumental, rather than going into a third verse.
  • In a modal C♯ minor.
• Cloudbusting:

  Verse 1

  Bridge

  Chorus

  Verse 2

  Bridge 2

  Chorus

  Instrumental

  Chorus

  Outro/Coda
• ‘Cloudbusting’, at 5 minutes, is considerably longer than most single releases, and the version that accompaniers the video is nearly 7 minutes.
• ‘And Dream of Sheep’ and ‘Under Ice’, being parts of a seven-song cycle, are relatively short, at 2′45″ and 2′21″ respectively. The two songs follow one another, and there is also some related material in common
• The Aesthetic is the set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist of genre
• And Dream of Sheep: no introduction
• And Dream of Sheep:

  Verse 1

  Refrain

  Bridge

  Verse 2

  Refrain

  Bridge

  Outro/Coda
• Under Ice:

  • Through-composed, with little clarity of verse/chorus structure.
  • Quite short, at 2′21″.
  • Least conventional in structure, melodically, although it is based on repetition of ideas.
  • In the following table the terms ‘verse’and ‘refrain’ are used in their most basic sense.
  • Bars 5–14 form a repeated structure, which is the basis for the piece. Unusually, this structure is not defined by the melody, but by the accompaniment figures and by the changes of time signature and rhythm.
• Under Ice:

  Introduction

  Verse 1

  Refrain 1

  Verse 2

  Refrain 2

  Verse 3

  Refrain 3

  Extension of Refrain

  Verse 4

  Refrain 4

  Outro/Coda
• Cloudbusting: Homorhythmic string chords articular a crotchet pulse
• Cloudbusting: more polyphonic in chorus