Additional information
Bush: David Guy Parsons, Robin James Goodridge, Gavin McGregor Rossdale, Nigel Kenneth Pulsford. Additional personnel: Gwen Stefani (vocals); Rosie Wetters (cello, strings); Sacha Puttnam (strings, piano); Aidan Love, Jony Rockstar (programming). Wired Strings includes: Claire Ashby, Alison Dodds (violin); David Lasserson (viola). Producers include: Gavin McGregor Rossdale. On THE SCIENCE OF THINGS, Bush manages to provide a link to the sound of the band's previous albums without stagnating in a post-grunge mire of hard-rock cliches. Old-school fans needn't worry, Bush's trademark style is well represented here, as on the grinding, piledriver riffs of "English Fire" and that vaunted, Nirvana-derived loud-soft-loud dynamic shift on the alternately foreboding and explosive "Dead Meat." There's a distinct musical progression here as well, though. With its looped-sounding drum track, "The Chemicals Between Us" nods to electronica production values. "Letting the Cables Sleep" and "40 Miles From the Sun" are effectively pensive ballads that provide a valuable respite from the band's unrelenting sonic attack, though the songs' underlying darkness keeps them from seeming anomalous. If any further doubts lingered about Bush's refusal to be pigeonholed, there's even a guest vocal turn from No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani.
