Hounds of Love by Kate Bush

Kate Bush — Hounds of Love

by Michael Cambron

Though assigning numerical values to music is pretty dumb in my opinion, the only album I would defend as a 10/10 listening experience is Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love. Written and produced entirely by Bush herself, this record has shaped so much of my music taste, lets me keep my hipster card, and serves as a constant point of reference on my musical journey.

In its first half, Bush perfectly combines art and pop with earwormy singles such as the sample heavy “Hounds of Love,” and the string-laden “Cloudbusting.” The album’s second half, an experimental suite of songs that detail a woman drowning known as The Ninth Wave, is at once gorgeous and terrifying, with the choral vocals of “Hello Earth” and the ethereal “Watching You Without Me” perfectly exemplifying this dichotomy.

The album is crowned by “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” probably as close to perfect as a song gets, with its thumping drums, crescendoing vocals, and snarls of guitar mixed with pristine synths. Actually, I think I’m gonna stop writing this blurb so I can listen to it right now.