Sounds Of Love

Kate Bush's fifth album combines hit singles with a seven-song conceptual suite, all expressing the unmistakable style of one of progressive music's most uncompromising visionaries. To mark 40 years of inspiration, The Anchoress, Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel, Auri's Johanna Kurkela, The Blackheart Orchestra's Chrissy Mostyn and Exploring Birdsong's Lynsey Ward celebrate the enduring magic and influence of Hounds Of Love.

- David West

In an age when artists seem desperate to share every waking moment of their lives on social media, Kate Bush remains positively enigmatic. Yet despite her almost hermetic commitment to avoiding the spotlight, she continues to inspire one generation after another. Her music speaks for itself, never more articulately than on her magnum opus, Hounds Of Love.

“At the risk of projecting my own feelings onto her lived experience when she created this album, I can’t help but get the feeling that she was really breaking out,” says Exploring Birdsong’s Lynsey Ward. “Her previous album, The Dreaming, was the first where she’s credited with [solely] producing it, and I just get the impression that Hounds Of Love was Kate Bush really finding her voice in this discipline, too. Her songwriting and sonic choices feel sophisticated and wholly deliberate. The Dreaming was the turning point, but Hounds Of Love feels like every facet of Kate Bush’s artistry at the very peak of its powers.”

Bush wrote the album at home in her newly upgraded 48-track studio, allowing her to work at her own pace without pressure from her label.

“I feel that her desire to stay true to her art and vision, no matter what, is truly inspiring,” says The Blackheart Orchestra's Chrissy Mostyn. “The art of making great music is to find the shortest route from soul to sound, so that none of the emotion evaporates on the journey. Kate builds songs like Roman roads, not letting the hills and rivers of convention or compromise get in the way and not getting tempted by the gentle slopes and easy valleys. It’s a straight line from her heart to yours. Every song is a cathedral of creativity.”

Released in September 1985, Hounds Of Love topped the charts in the UK and Holland, home of Sharon den Adel from Within Temptation.

“I already knew Kate Bush from