Little Shrew: Kate Bush’s Haunting Animation for ‘Snowflake’

I had no idea that this existed until recently.  Back in 2024, Kate Bush released a short animated music video called Little Shrew (Snowflake) – the word in brackets being the name of the track from her 2011 album 50 Words for Snow that is used as the soundtrack for this startling and poignant anti-war story.  Apparently, the image of the destroyed block of flats that you see in the video is based on a real photograph that Bush saw – an image of the war in Ukraine.  Yet the video doesn’t focus on graphic violence, rather its impact on the young and timid shrew – although the bleak monochrome of the animation certainly drives it message home.

The animation was written and directed by Kate Bush, with the help of animation company Inkubis and production company Tomato Twist.  If you don’t know Snowflake well, you might think Hey! That’s not Kate! for about half of the song.  That’s because she shared the song with her son Bertie (Albert McIntosh).  In fact, the guitar work on the track is by Dan McIntosh, so father makes three. I like it when people keep it in the family! The animation was created to help support the charity War Child.   It is – as you might expect – a work of art.