Enya - Amarantine
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Free Music Notes for Amarantine
Free Music Review: Catching up with a dear friend.
Hit: 5 Stars
There is a familarity and a contentment with breathing in a new Enya album. The day I found out she had a new one coming out, I felt very warm and relaxed, a feeling like one that comes with realizing you'd be going to visit and get reacquainted with a dear friend you haven't visited in a while, just to catch up and be in her presence. I am still getting acquainted with all of the pieces of music. But there were immediate feelings. When I was listening to "It's in the rain" I literally felt shivers and bristles of chills up my back as her voice melted over me. It had a cadence that rocked me back and forth. It reminds me of some of the quality vocal performances on The Celts. Her voice is very stunning on that track. The following track, "If I could be where you are", had similar immediate effects on me. Right now it is about even between those two as being my favorite pieces on this album. Like I do with many pieces of music, I like to personalize them. "If I could be where you are" was immediately personalized to a long missed love, but memories of that person alive in me told me to turn the song inward....a song that I have personalized to be about looking for my "inner self", and probably my inner kiddo--who I see as a 5-year-old warm and relaxed, playing, and grinning in the sun on a fresh grass hill)...a part of me that I long to reconnect with. The singer is looking for answers of how to find this missing love. Is there a sign? Is there a road? And there is still a remnant of this missing love. The voice sings, "In the darkness of my dreaming, the light of you will stay". Darkness here, but the light of that love remains inside...a hope it can be found. (I might have just now convinced myself that this is my favorite song.)
I read some reviews here say it is sad album. But I think that can be a product of viewpoint and perception. Yes there is some melancholy, but there is also hope and searching and fond memories.
Everyone should sit down to get reacquainted with this dear friendly voice. She will warm you.
My wish for a future album is that she sings "Amazing Grace." I'd love to see what she does with that song.
Free Music Review: A beautiful woman with a voice to match.
Hit: 5 Stars
I think this is a wonderful album. I only own two Enya CDs at the moment, but I am slowly falling in love with her and her art. It's nice to know that there are still people out there who are writing decent music that you can slip into like a comfy robe and that doesn't knock you over the head. Easily my favorite track on the disc is "Amid the Falling Snow" -- there's a sweet, joyous delicacy to it that I just can't put my finger on. Pretty much all of the songs, however, are quite memorable. Some of them are lovely and sad; sometimes they sparkle with a hint of positivity and unattainable happiness, while others have a more haunting depth to them. Another standout on this album is "It's in the Rain" -- when I first saw the video of this song on YouTube, I knew I had to buy the entire thing.
I have to admit, I have a harder time getting into Enya's more energetic, "tribal" songs. An example of this kind of effort on this particular album is "The River Sings." These sound very unusual to me -- still, if you allow it some time to sink in and contrast it with the other tracks, it does become possible to appreciate it as well for what it is. "Sumiregusa" is also another excellent highlight on this disc -- as you listen to it, you can tell she's trying to reach out to *something*, yet sadly it just seems to be slightly out of her grasp (that's my interpretation, anyways). "Drifting" is probably the most plain and restrained composition on the list, but heartbreaking love songs such as "Amarantine," "If I Could Be Where You Are," and "A Moment Lost" definitely make up for that. In addition, "Long Long Journey" sounds utterly triumphant.
I really only needed to give this CD a spin two or three times before I truly became swept away by its mysterious and poetic beauty. I discovered melodies and lyrics throughout that are, put simply, not of this earth. In short, I think anyone who is fond of the "New Age" genre will find it difficult not to enjoy this marvelous release from Enya (her style is certainly hard to pigeon hole, but I think in many ways it's fair to use that label to describe what she does).
Free Music Review: Enya creates another magical world for just you.
Hit: 5 Stars
Enya's music has always been uniquely Enya, not just Celtic or Classical or New Age, but just simply Enya. Though some consider her to be repititve or predictable, to me, she is just simply revisting old themes, a practice very notable in the Brennan family, as Clannad and Moya Brennan have also frequently revisted themes and sounds in their music. Roma Ryan's lyrics are very imaginative and invoke the power of creativty. There is a strong Celtic quality with songs like "Less than a Pearl", "The River Sings", and "Long Long Journey". "Long Long Journey" creates the image of the Irish imigrating to America with it's hymnal/folk song quality. There's even a Celtic ballad quality with "If I could be where you are" and "A Moment Lost". Songs like "It's In the Rain" and "Someone Said Goodbye" even have a bit of a pop quality. Roma's lyrics once again ask life questions like in "Amarantine". The beauty of "Amarantine" really floats in the air witht he innocence of Enya's voice and the smoothness of the strings. Roma's words tell great stories and use symbolism, creating what the listener can emotionally relate to. "Sumiregusa" is a world of enchantment on its own, creating a beautiful image of nature through the Japanese prose. Perhaps the most amazing song of all is "Water Shows the Hidden Heart" when it comes down to Enya's vocal variety, style, melody and harmony, and the power of the story in the lyrics. Once again, her multi-vocal methods create beautiful choral sounds. The sci-fi story behind Roma's Loxian lyrics certainly transports the listener into one's own magical world. "Drifting" provides a nice peaceful interlude. My only criticism would be that I think the album doesn't have the same high quality as her albums from pre-Paint the Sky with Stars, which I also felt with A Day Without Rain, but nonetheless, a lot of the same power remains. Just as with her previous albums, the songs on Amarantine sound like music that you've heard before on a dream, another power that I am convinced runs in the great Brennan family. Amarantine is still a five-star-ranking quality album, which I am convinced Enya will always be.Free Music Review: Perfection
Hit: 5 Stars
In order to listen to this album and fully appreciate it, you must know what Enya is and is not. Enya is the epitome of perfect music in that her music is what all music is supposed to be. Enya is often described as "New Age", but few people know what that means. "New Age" describes a genre of music whose sole purpose is to promote a higher level of consciousness, not through the typical method of speaking philosophical babble, but the guaranteed method of soothing you so that you can think about such things as love, world peace, compassion, etc. New Age music is supposed to put you in a meditative state that helps you feel pure pleasure 24/7/365. As another reviewer aptly put it, she produces harmonized Nirvana, and she is the only artist who does it consistently with every single song. Thus, there can be no such thing as the "best of Enya" since all of the songs achieve their goal: perpetual meditation. So, every song tends to sound like every other song, with slight variations, because once you start listening and enter sonic heaven, you don't want to leave. Any change would force you to leave the state of bliss she effortlessly enduces.
Enya is NOT musician or a folk singer. Musicians and folk singers match music and lyrics to communicate a message, entertain, or advocate a purpose. When this is done well, the music becomes classic. You listen to be transported back in time, to the feelings and memories you had when you first heard the music. Enya does not transport you anywhere except into a meditative state. Her lyrics serve no other purpose than to help you experience love, compassion, togetherness, and peace in that state.
In this regard, Amarantine is perfection, just like the Celts, Watermark, Shepherd's Moon, In Memory of Trees, and A Day without Rain. Every track will transport you to a blissful state. You will put on the CD and listen over and over again for hours, days, weeks, or months, never knowing that time has passed. Unlike other artists, Enya's music does not grow stale or boring. It is impossible because you cannot improve on perfection.
Free Music Review: A much angrier Enya
Hit: 5 Stars
I've been a huge enya fan since my college days. I listened to Shepherd Moons and I would play my harp to "Caribbean Blue" in my farternity house basement. Enya always seemed bubbly and happy and optimistic. Well, those days are over. This is a very angry Enya album. It's almost like the Sith Lord brought her over to the dark side and let her anger flow. There are several tracks on this where she just seems fed up with the establishment and she holds nothing back in unleashing her fury. This is not an album for someone that is soft. Enya takes the ball into the paint, lays down a drop step and slams this ball home on Shaq's head. She doesn't apologize for it either. This is much like a Nine Inch Nails CD, only darker. There are themes on this that made me a little uncomfortable to make pop tarts for a snack. I felt like this album reached out of the stereo and yelled at me for an hour. I'm not going to lie, I enjoy the Cd because everything isn't bright and sunny all of the time. If it was, we'd all just drive Honda's and drink tea all summer.
This type of transformation is not unheard of in the realm of new age music. Burns is quite simply the world's greatest keyboard player. When he took a hiatus from Asschowder a few months ago, he unleashed some hard core keyboard music dealing with sandwiches and Nascar that quite frakly, the world wasn't ready to hear. He just got out the keyboard and explored the space. He sent the pain below and showed the world a side of Burns that hadn't been seen since his triple double versus Rhombus in 1991. Burns gets women, has money and is the best keyboard player in the world. Yes, that should make you happy, but Burns is often misunderstood and his release "Keyboard Mosh Pit" sent a message that Burns isn't always smurfy. Enya sent that same message home on this platter.