Kate Bush returns following a twelve-year absence and presents her audience with a double disc opus. Aerial is the fruit of her work piecemealed together over several years. Something must be said for Bush’s fans as they have been voraciously, yet patiently, waiting for over a decade. The good news is that Kate’s well-known attention to detail has paid off big time. Aerial surely ranks as one her best pieces of work, almost as sensational as The Hounds of Love or The Sensual World. The two discs of Aerial are similar to 1985’s Hounds in that the latter half contains a separate conceptual suite. Disc one, entitled A Sea Of Honey is a beautifully constructed pop album opening with "King of the Mountain" which questions the pale existence of a recluse Elvis living a Wagnerian lifestyle. The song pokes fun at the still ubiquitous shadow of the king’s influence over popular culture. Bush tackles an almost humorous impersonation of the spangled idol in the refrain which sets the idiosyncratic tone for A Sea of Honey. This idiosyncratic opener is just the beginning. Indeed, these quirky artistic gestures are what make Kate a truly compelling and original artist for our time. Anyone else attempting the same would be an ephemeron by comparison. "Pi", the next track, is hushed lightly strummed guitars amid a soft staccato electric Hammond organ sound that wrap around Kate’s voice as she sings the first twenty plus numbers of the mathematical equation. This linear numerical singing has never sounded so sensuous, nor so delicately clever.

A Sea of Honey also casts a domesticism that weaves in and around the songs and sounds that harkens back to 1989’s The Sensual World. "Bertie" a folk tinged ode to her son and "Joanni" bring the audience into Kate’s more internal world. "How to Disappear" possibly plays on her retreat from the public eye. Yet, this influence does not bog down the music nor the creativity one expects from a Kate Bush record. The crowning moment of A Sea of Honey is "Mrs. Bartolizzi" in which the narrator recalls a memory of lost love while watching her clothes twist in the washing machine and the clothes undulate outside on the line. She looks for her love outside but he vanishes. As he disappears she plaintively continues with her wash. The subtle sexuality soothes and entices the listener. This evocation of memories and sensations through everyday chores captures the authentic charm of Kate Bush.

A Sky of Honey is the title of the second disc which is a conceptual and mostly orchestrated piece which takes the listener from midday to night and through to sunrise. Fortunately, this bears no similarity to The Moody Blues’s pastoral psychedelia of Days of Future Past. The suite utilizes samples of blackbirds, owls and other feathered friends to connect songs. In several cases, Bush sings atop of the birdcalls or uses their song as part of her melodies. "Prologue" showcases slow impressionistic piano chords whose restrained state creates a deliberate hushed delicate nature to Kate’s voice and lyrics which are a dedication to romance. The gentle intermittent ascending rolls of the piano act as a staircase to the panoramic view of her afternoon. Each song transitions exquisitely into the next. "An Architect’s Dream" is a delicately and somber affair which is overshadowed by "Sunset" with its spirited flamenco flourishes cascading over the listener, invoking the descending sun and heralding the night.