Praying for Growage...

Expectations are funny things aren't they? If they're always high you run the risk of perpetual disappointment, if they're always monolithic you run the risk of incurable heartbreak, and if they're always low you run the risk of depressing yourself so much that by the time you're overwhelmed or pleasantly surprised, you've lost the will to live.

Ideally one never has any expectations at all and one evaluates everything totally on its merit. But merit can't exist in an expectation vacuum, so that's unfortunately impossible.

We're not sure what we expected from Kate Bush's first single since 2005's "King of the Mountain", but we knew to expect the unexpected, which in a way means to expect the expected by way of the predictably unexpected (*head explodes*).

"Wild Man" has a synthy, panoramic, slightly 90s chillrock chorus that is at once swoony and weird. At first we were irked that it didn't obviously feature Bushy's wondrous voice, but, you know, it still sounds great and odd and texturally different from almost everything else being released currently or in the past 5 years. The verses have the potential to irritate, from their cooing whisper to their twiddly and undeveloping riff, but, ultimately, create a rather satisfying contrast with the choruses.

The lyrics are bleak for a Christmas album, but we'd be worried if Kate suddenly came over all warm and cuddly and fuzzy and dull.

All in all it's a rather swoonsome, if not immediately accessible song that we're sure will open up a treasure trove of aural (that's AURAL not ORAL) wonders when subjected to repeat listens. Kate has never ever released substandard music (oh, well, if we ignore the "Rubberband Girl" update on Director's Cut) and this looks set to continue her trend of flawlessness and innovation.

If you were expecting cosy tinsel and mistletoe, you're in for a bit of a shock, but thankfully we're all cold, edgy bastards at Shiny & New so we're loving it. Bring on le album.