Kate Bush reveals she is “very keen to start working on a new album”
The 66-year-old singer announced the news in an interview with the BBC about a new short film she has directed to raise money for War Child
Kate Bush has revealed she is “very keen to start working on a new album” in a rare interview with the BBC.
The 66-year-old singer’s last new record was ‘50 Words for Snow’, which came out in 2011. Since then, she has only released music via live and compilation albums.
Speaking with Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Bush said: “I've got lots of ideas and I’m really looking forward to getting back into that creative space, it's been a long time".
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She said that over the last few years, she had been “caught up doing a lot of archive work”, redesigning her website and “putting a lyric book together”, but that, in the last year, she had felt “ready to start doing something new”.
The BBC presenter also references a comment made by David Gilmour in a recent interview with the Guardian, in which the Pink Floyd member said that, despite his gentle attempts at persuasion, “Kate Bush is the only person who can get Kate Bush back on stage”.
In response to this, Bush jokes: "I'm not there yet."
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Released today (October 25), the interview coincides with the launch of Bush’s new film, Little Shrew, a four-minute, black and white animation that raises awareness for children affected by war.
Written and directed by Bush herself, and illustrated by Jim Kay, the film is free to watch on the musician’s website, with the aim of encouraging donations to War Child.
It is soundtracked by Bush’s song ‘Snowflake’ from the ‘50 Words for Snow’ album.
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The Brit Award-winning artist started working on the animation not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"I think war is horrific for everyone, particularly civilians, because they're so vulnerable in these situations. But for a child, it's unimaginable how frightening it must be for them,” says Bush.
“These are dark times that we're living in and I think, to a certain extent, everyone is just worn out. We went through the pandemic, that was a huge shock, and I think we felt that, once that was over, that we would be able to get on with some kind of normal life. But in fact it just seems to be going from one situation to another, and more wars seem to be breaking out all the time.”
In the interview, she also discusses how her track ‘Running Up That Hill’ gained an entirely new audience in 2022, when it was used in the Netflix series Stranger Things.
The artist previously showed her support for War Child last year when she released physical reissues of her entire back catalogue with a donation from each sale going to the charity.
Watch Bush's short film below.
Meena Sears is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Instagram