Are you Lonely, Are You Lost?

Although I have been referred to as the/a S&N Kate Bush stan, I am a pretty rubbish fan. I would always hear the opening lines of 'Deeper Understanding', think of someone like this:

I would think of this person using a computer like this:

(Possibly while wearing something like this):

I would have a momentary cringe/snigger, since I was an arrogant middle class shit who knew everything about computers and modernity because I could use msn to snark about the latest Sugababes video and peruse Perez Hilton for hours on end looking at paparazzi snaps of glossy sticks clambering out of cars or hiding behind Birkins and Kate Bush's song was like, really, like dated and didn't even, like know what Bebo was, lol. There are lolcats now, and websites where you can rate people's turds or look at their tits. As an envisioning of the future, 'Deeper Understanding' seemed to lack any anticipation for Top 8s, Blue Waffle, Maru or Tumblrs dedicated to Voldemort memes, so it was hastily dismissed.

It's not about that, of course. Neither is it about a particular time/computer/ website dedicated to kittehs, its about delving far deeper into innate human feeling than any gif of a cat in a sombrero could. Over twenty years later, its lyrics are even more haunting; I've spent at least half of that period of time glued to my own little black box, possibly spending more time with it than with any other human being, as many others may have done as they've grown up with rapidly evolving technology.

When you can sit in your bedroom in your own stale pyjamas and still access a universe of culture and people, it is easy to think 'well I've never felt such pleasure. Nothing else seem[s] to matter', neglect your bodily needs and gradually remove yourself from the world. I'm doing exactly that while writing this up, browsing youtiube in search of Kate Bush's back catalogue.

I have gone back to the original to compare and I'm still unsure of what alterations have been made or what they even mean. It's always tempting to pit them against one another, rank them and describe them in superlative terms, but where's the merit or enjoyment in that? It is interesting to see what she's done: the song has been extended by roughly two minutes, of which nearly all of which consists of a subdued, meandering instrumental embellished with only a scattering of vocals.

At first I was slightly disappointed, hoping rather for more of an elaboration, more lyrical development, perhaps more personal focus, more novelty. But maybe that's the point. Perhaps it's meant to demand patience of listeners used to soundbites, desultory reading habits and Wikipedia skimmings. Suggesting that sounds like I'm reducing the song to some sort of perverse, ill conceived and poorly executed experiment supported by a flimsy/obnoxious concept, which I'm not. It is still quintessential Kate Bush (that sounds so smug/patronising/pompous critic), emotive, haunting but still intrepid and daring. I can't pinpoint it particularly eloquently or extensively, but the most notable alteration is in the vocal effects, ones that create a technological voice that is slightly unnerving, slightly angelic. To say that it marks a progression in sound would be hasty and a tad inaccurate considering the song's subject, but it is striking nonetheless, as Bush has never extensively manipulated the sound of her voice. She may have done so in her delivery, in choice of accents and ornamentation, and experimented with effects on parts of The Dreaming and Hounds of Love (this is all a tad tenuous), but it has never been totally obscured to a point of total disintegration.

This is an unsuccessful post that hasn't achieved a great deal. The greatest pearl of insight I could dredge up from the barren, murky waters of my mind was that it bears a resemblance to Imogen Heap, Radiohead (most notably this) etc. (duh, since it's an update of a song released in 2011, double duh) but then again just about anything nowadays, be it music, cheese, writing or tone can bear a resemblance to the work of Radiohead, and drawing a comparison between Bush and her contemporaries is narrow minded to totally ignorant considering how long Bush has been making, and experimenting with, music. All I can do is express gratitude (how naff) for its existence, incredulity at the fact that some vocals have been provided by Mica Paris (!!!!) and return to trawling through tumblr at pictures of pretty hipsters.