Music » Celtic New Age Music

Enya's 1988 recording Watermark achieved landmark success with her groundbreaking use of multi-tracking technology to fuse new age and Celtic themes and instrumentation. The meticulous production defines her sound and achieves continuity even while weaving together tender ballads, piano pieces, massively layered vocal harmonies, and symphonic synthesizer movements. Although Enya's pristine voice isn't especially strong, her lead vocals possess a vulnerability that reflects the lyrics' sense of personal searching. From the ubiquitous, frothy single "Orinoco Flow" (which was used to hawk Crystal Light on TV) to the hard, bold edge of "Cursum Perficio," Enya's style remains fresh and engaging today. --Richard Price

As each new Enya release has washed over all who have ears to hear, as each heaven-touched work leaves admirers sitting speechless in slack-jawed wonder, questions eventually come to mind: Might her layered, choral-like approach gradually become predictable or stale? Will she ever exhaust her deep reservoir of soul-stirring ideas? Remarkably, A Day Without Rain, Enya's fourth release since her 1988 breakthrough, Watermark, establishes new artistic heights for the gifted Irish vocalist and keyboardist. The project, polished and refined over a five-year period in the company of longtime collaborators Nicky Ryan (producer) and Roma Ryan (lyricist), may qualify as her best yet--a radiant, beatific collection of works that command attention with their cathedral-like resonance as they soothe your spirit with some of Enya's loveliest, most graceful voicings ever. The disc's opening three tracks (including the spellbinding "Only Time") form a gorgeous trilogy that suggest Enya has deepened her focus on the nexus where sophisticated pop and regal mysticism, the twin rivers of her singular sound, form a seamless intersection. The disc's gentle timbre is disturbed only once, and in memorable fashion, with "Tempus Vernum," a marshalling of mythic sonic forces that brings to mind the theme from the De Beers diamond commercial, but with a Celtic/Goth edge. Additional highlights abound. The closing "Lazy Days" will leave your soul dancing in a shower of flower petals and sunshine. A wonderful recording. --Terry Wood

To many people, Enya has become synonymous with new age music. Her haunting voice, clear and crisp above richly woven musical arrangements and adaptations, represents some of the best in the genre. Her performances on The Memory of Trees justify the Celtic songster's reputation. Songs like "China Roses" and "Hope Has a Place" complement the simple elegance of traditional folk music with luxuriantly layered instrumentation and highly crafted studio production. The ultimate effect is dazzling, to be sure. Whether she sings in English, Gaelic, or Latin, Enya conveys a profound, if slightly disconcerting, mix of spirituality and sensuality. --L.A. Smith

The success of her first international hit, Watermark, confirmed Enya as less a singer or songwriter than a sonic architect: working with producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan, the classically-trained pianist built vaulting cathedrals of sound, framed by luminous piano, shimmering synthesizer orchestrations, and, above all, the seemingly infinite layers of vocal harmonies she plied on every song. The deeply romantic Celtic pop on its 1991 successor, Shepherd Moons, sustains the same spectrum of hushed reverie and surging, rhapsodic releases, as well as its mix of ballads, floating midtempo pieces, and forays into Celtic and Latin--and it's every bit as seductive. The terminally hip will sneer, but it's no accident that "Caribbean Blue," the best known song here, managed to sneak onto modern rock, top 40, "adult alternative" and public radio playlists. --Sam Sutherland

New Age diva Enya first became widely known when her 1988 album Watermark sold 4 million copies and launched the single "Orinoco Flow." Her follow-up, Shepherd Moons, was even more successful, selling over 10 million copies despite its slightly lower grade of ethereal enchantment. In 1997 she released Paint the Sky with Stars, an assortment of her best work from these two early albums plus gems from 1995's The Memory of Trees and the soundtrack to the BBC series The Celts. The most melodic and atmospheric examples of Enya's lovely Celtic-flavored songwriting shine on this disc. Those unfamiliar with the former Clannad member will find charm in such sweet lullabies as "Marble Halls" and "China Roses" while delighting in the more energetic "Book of Days," "Storms in Africa," and "Caribbean Blue." Overall, an outstanding collection from an artist who gives New Age a good name. --Karen Karleski

Born Eithne Ni Bhraonain, this classically-trained pianist was kid sister in the musical family that became Clannad, joining the Irish band in 1979 but dropping out amicably three years later to pursue her own muse. This music, produced in the mid-'80s as the soundtrack to a BBC series, was released as her debut in 1987 and promptly ignored--yet its mix of atmospheric soundscapes and Enya's lush, layered vocals, sung in both English and Gaelic, is the template for her subsequent global hits, beginning with Watermark the following year. --Sam Sutherland

Release Date: 1997-09-30, Audio CD, Quinlan Road

Having proved with an MTV Unplugged session that they are more than just a bunch of pretty faces and can actually play their instruments, Celtic-poppers the Corrs returned to the studio for their third "proper" album. Owners of Unplugged will already be familiar with two of the tracks here, "At Your Side" and "Radio," which are given the full studio treatment and endowed with a much fuller sound. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily a good thing, as the album as a whole tends to be overproduced--taking the raw folky qualities and folding them into a far more sanitized whole. As a result, the standout tracks tend to be the more up-tempo ones--"Breathless" and "No More Cry." To be fair, when the Corrs are good, they're very, very good; but when they're bad, they're just dull. Unlike their previous albums, In Blue doesn't seem to be quite so flowing. With several different producers working on it (including Mr. Shania Twain, "Mutt" Lange), maybe it was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. --Mel RobertsProduced by Robert John 'Mutt' Lange and Mitchell Froom, who Give the Irish Siblings' Music a Kick in the Arse. The New Sound is More Power Pop, Yet Retaining their Lush Harmonies.

Part showtunes, part classical, and part folk music, Ronan Hardiman's score to Lord of the Dance, the musical starring dancer Michael Flatley, successfully avoids all the inherent pitfalls of such an enterprise. Hardiman has emerged as Ireland's finest interpreter of traditional music for films, TV, and the theater, and under his guidance the 19 lush orchestral tunes, augmented with many traditional instruments, are rife with the spirit of the Emerald Isle. Two of the tracks feature the taps of Flatley and Co, while the rest highlight the score as composed by Hardiman with all its subtle textures intact and not masked by the live sound of tap dancing. Lord of the Dance is a perfect and very listenable fusion of Broadway and the indigenous heritage of Irish music making. --Derek Rath

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