The musical persona of the Mystical, dare I say Witchy, Woman has made a huge comeback recently. While ol' Stevie Nicks is probably the most famous pioneer of this sort of style (drug-damaged and ethereal, a sort of hippie version of the femme fatale), I prefer Kate Bush.
Wild eyed to the point of seeming possessed, draped in modern-dance widow's weeds, in the gauzy light of this video she appears as a wraithlike cunning woman performing weird musical spell-casting. It's a powerful feminine persona, a pagan spiritual alternative to the futurist androgyny of a Patti Smith or Laurie Anderson.
Compare "Babooshka" to the brand new "When I Grow Up" by Fever Ray.
The same disheveled drapery, possessed/wounded robot dance moves, and over all, the same mysterious mystic aura. (This time married to Laurie Anderson's vocal distortions). She'll put a spell on you. Compare also:
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