"I was born/In a cloud," moans Kate Bush, and no, that's not Internet jargon. So begins this hour-plus, piano-driven, elegantly loony concept album about, yes, snow. Her first offering of new material since 2005's magnificent Aerial, this is an understated, gently bizarre affair, quiet and determined. Elton John assists on the star-crossed romantic duet "Snowed in at Wheeler Street," bewildering yet genuinely affecting; for the title track, she actually gets English actor Stephen Fry to list 50 ways to describe snow. No. 47: "Blown from polar fur." Man, Kate Bush is awesome.