Kate Bush has admitted that the length of time it takes her to release an album can be "extremely stressful".

Speaking to the BBC, the singer - whose last album, Aerial, came out in 2005 - said she had written new songs but did not know when they would be released.

"It's very frustrating the albums take as long as they do," the 52-year-old told Radio 4's Front Row. "I wish there weren't such big gaps between them."

An album of reworked songs, Director's Cut, is released later this month.

The collection features material from her Sensual World and Red Shoes albums, released in 1989 and 1993 respectively.

A new version of Deeper Understanding was released as a single in April, with a video starring Robbie Coltrane, Noel Fielding and Frances Barber.

Speaking to Radio Four's Front Row arts programme, the singer denied she was a perfectionist in the recording studio.

"I don't think I am," she said. "People have said this, but I don't think I really want anything to be perfect.

"I think it's important that things are flawed," she continued.


"That's what makes a piece of art interesting sometimes - the bit that's wrong or the mistake you've made that's led onto an idea you wouldn't have had otherwise."

Bush described her new material as "work in progress", but was unwilling to say when it might see the light of day.

"Even if I was able to talk about it now, it might completely change in a few weeks and so would no longer be relevant."

The star, whose hits include Wuthering Heights and Running Up That Hill, has been famously reclusive in recent years.