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Baker's Dozen

A Tower Of Songs: Martha Wainwright's Favourite Albums
Elizabeth Aubrey , February 8th, 2017 10:25

In a revealing Baker's Dozen interview Martha Wainwright discusses family, love, parenthood and music with Elizabeth Aubrey. Portrait by Carl Lessard

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Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
It's interesting because obviously when I first heard Kate Bush I was completely flabbergasted. I don't think my mother introduced me to her music. I think I probably came to it on my own at about 12-or-13-years-old – those beginning years when you really start to perceive of the world, outside of your child-led world. The older boys that I knew were in love with Kate Bush, she was this sex symbol. But it was interesting to find out that one of her biggest influences musically was the McGarrigle Sisters.  It really makes a lot of sense when you hear that she did it all of herself, in terms of recording and engineering and all of that.

Kate Bush was another person to wish you could be like. The imagery that she creates in her music is something else. I don't have the same etherealness that she does, but I like to think when I can sing really high, I'm definitely influenced by her. 'Hounds of Love', the title track is great. I would be honoured to be asked to do something of Kate Bush's but I probably wouldn't go to it on my own. It would be hard to sing it differently, like covering Joni Mitchell. When I cover music, I have a tendency to change it a little bit but I think with this, people just want to hear the quintessential version.