Evaluate Kate Bush’s use melody, harmony and technology in Cloudbusting and Under Ice.

Cloudbusting and Under Ice are both taken from the 1985 album ‘Hounds of love’. Other popular tracks
from the album is ‘Wuthering heights’. The B-side of this album is a concept album called the ‘9th wave’.
The idea behind it is of a person lost at sea. As Kate Bush was self taught, her was very different to other
producers of music at the time such as the three famous producers; Stock Aitken and Waterman who
produced music such as the song ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley.

Kate Bush used modern technology of the time in her in both Cloud busting and Under Ice.
For example she used the Fairlight CMI to sample sounds and use them in these songs. This sort of
technology wasn’t commonly used at the time as it was new and expensive so most people didn’t have the
chance to use it. The Fairlight CMI was used by Kate in another of her songs ‘Army Dreamers’.
UnderIce features lots of use of synth technology. Additionally to her use of the Fairlight, Kate used
synth pad which sets the tone for the whole piece and blends with the sampled sounds of vocals and strings
which appear throughout. Synth pads have been used to many different effects in a range of music genres
and as they have become integrated into the popular and alternative music industry. For example Billie Eilish
uses synth pads in lots of her music including her song ‘Ocean Eyes’ as she uses it to create dreamlike and
emotional atmosphere.

Kate Bush uses melodic techniques to create atmosphere in Cloudbusting and Under Ice.
In Under Ice, Kate uses a low tessitura with a limited pentatonic range for parts of the song. This
restriction in the melody illustrates the idea of the character stuck under water and under a layer of ice. The
use of pentatonic melody was used to a very different effect in Sunshine of your Love by Cream.
In Cloudbusting, the melody is often free flowing, quirking and unpredictable. This could be seen as
being representative of the boys inventor farther as he had a quirky way of seeing and doing things which is
what eventually got him taken away from the boy. This feeling of unpredictability and quirkiness in the
vocals is used to a similar effect by Son Lux in ‘Stolen’

Kate Bush also uses harmonic devices to create atmosphere in Cloudbusting and Under Ice.
In Under Ice Kate uses a repeated chord sequence. This could be seen as referencing the fact that the
character is stuck and the one important thing that keeps coming back to them is the fact that they are trapped
and need to get out from under the ice. Repeating chord sequences have been used in many songs such as
‘Youth’ by Daughter although this chord sequence is more referencing the struggles of being stuck in life
rather than being stuck with the prospect of death.
In Cloudbusting, Kate use lots of extended chords. This could be a reference to the complexity of the
inventors life and invention but also the complexity of his situation as he is being taken away from his son
and the boy has to try and save him. Bon Iver used lots of extended chords and dissonance in ‘715-Creeks’ to
show the complexity the love of another person, the love of god and a loss of faith.