Dark Sky Island | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 20 November 2015 | |||
Recorded | 2012–2015 | |||
Studio | Aigle Studio, Killiney, Ireland | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 44:05 (Standard edition) 54:36 (Deluxe edition) | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Nicky Ryan | |||
Enya chronology | ||||
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Singles from Dark Sky Island | ||||
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Dark Sky Island is the eighth studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 20 November 2015 by Warner Bros. Records. After the release of her previous album, And Winter Came... (2008), Enya was unsure of her next career move, so she decided to take a break from music, which lasted three years. In the spring of 2012, she started to write and record new material for a new album with her longtime collaborators, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan, and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Enya gained inspiration for the title track and the album from the 2011 designation of Sark in the Channel Islands as a dark-sky preserve and a collection of Roma Ryan's poems on islands.
Dark Sky Island received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success upon release. It peaked at No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart, Enya's highest position on the chart since Paint the Sky with Stars (1997), and No. 8 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. Elsewhere, it reached the top five in nine countries. A deluxe edition features three additional tracks. Enya promoted the album with a worldwide media tour that included performances of some songs from the album. Dark Sky Island was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. [2]
Following the release of her winter-themed album And Winter Came... (2008), Enya was unsure on her next career move. Among the options she considered was to take a "proper break" away from activity, which she decided to do and lasted three years. [3] She felt it was needed for herself and her music. [4] During this period she released her second greatest hits album, The Very Best of Enya (2009) and spent time travelling, including visits to Ireland, Australia and France, where she bought a new home on its southern coast and renovated it. [5] Enya also caught up with her longtime collaborators, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan, to discuss ideas on the next album and when to start work. At one meeting, Roma presented Enya with a collection of poems she had written about islands, one of which was about Sark in the English Channel, and spoke about its designation as the first island to become a dark-sky preserve in 2011. Enya was inspired by the idea to start writing new music, [6] [7] but had to wait until renovation work was complete at Aigle Studio, the Ryans' home studio in Killiney, County Dublin. In May 2011, Ryan announced that work on a new album had started, early plans for which included orchestral and choral arrangements recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London that never came into fruition. [8] In the spring of 2012, Enya felt the time was right to start recording. [9] [6] Enya said the album has an underlying theme of journeys: "Journeys to the island; through the length of a lifetime; through history, through emotions; and journeys across great oceans", yet denies it is a concept album. [10]
The album was recorded from 2012 to 2015. Enya and the Ryans adopted their usual method of writing and recording for Dark Sky Island. The process began with Enya working alone, recording ideas in the form of basic melodies or sketches of ideas on the piano. She would arrive at the studio at 10 a.m. and work until around 6 p.m. and have weekends off. [6] Enya is a self-described "very slow writer" and did not give herself a deadline to have a set number of songs complete by. At times when a strong enough idea had not arrived after some weeks, Nicky would encourage her to continue. She added: "It's a day closer to writing and finding what I'm trying to say and express within the music." [6] After a collection of ideas have been put down Enya would present them to Nicky and Roma "to see [whether] they understand what I'm trying to say [...] to see, emotionally, that they sense what the song is about. And then we know we have a song for the album." [6] The album's eleven tracks, plus three bonus tracks, were all the songs that Enya had written in the three-year period. [6]
The title track "Dark Sky Island" was the first to be written. It is a gentle, story-like song, which also mentions various constellation names. [9] Another notable song is "The Humming...", which is a song "that muses on the cycle of the universe and how change affects everything". [11] It is composed in the key of G-sharp minor. While Enya was working on the music, there was a part that she started to hum to and decided to keep the section as the humming part. She had read a story that Roma had given her about the earliest sound in the universe was a humming sound, which Nicky said was around forty-seven octaves below the lowest piano key". [4] [11] The sound was inaudible to humans until scientists took the information picked up by the Planck space telescope and reproduced it through audio compression and pitch alteration, which created a humming sound and gave the track a fitting title. [11]
"So I Could Find My Way" is set in waltz time and composed in the key of D major. Enya described the melody as "very emotional". The song is dedicated to Nicky Ryan's deceased mother Mona. Enya describes its subject of "a mother moving on" as "something quite universal ... You think about what she left behind in your life. That's what you'll always remember. What her stories were, what she was hoping for you; hoping you'd find your way". [11] [12]
"Even in the Shadows" features a double bass played by Irish rock and jazz musician Eddie Lee. [13] Lee was a member of Those Nervous Animals from Sligo, Ireland. The band were label mates with the Brennan family band Clannad under the Tara Music label in the 1980s; Enya was a temporary member of Clannad from 1980 until 1982. [14]
There are two songs on the album that feature lyrics in Loxian, a language created by Roma Ryan, for the first time since Amarantine (2005). These songs in particular focus on the "intergalactic theme" and otherworldly and futuristic tales Roma Ryan uses Loxian for, along with the non-Loxian "Astra et Luna".
"Echoes in Rain" is in a minor scale, specifically F-sharp minor (the parallel minor to A major) and has a sort of "marching rhythm celebrating a journey's end". The song includes a complex piano-based bridge similar to Enya's solo piano tracks on her earlier albums. Enya's vocals span two octaves from B2 to E5. The lyrics describe the subtle thrill of journeying home after a long time away, travelling through night into the next day. The verses detail how the changes of the natural surroundings and the elated feeling throughout the journey home. [15] It was the final song written for the album. [10]
"I Could Never Say Goodbye" is an Irish lament with "a sparse, hymnal arrangement".
"Sancta Maria" blends synthesizers and classical instrumentation.
The album was announced by Enya on her website in September 2015. [16] The title, first single and track listing were announced on 7 October 2015. [17] [18] Along with standard and deluxe editions on digital formats, [19] [20] a vinyl edition was made available, [21] making Dark Sky Island Enya's first vinyl release since her self-titled album's re-release in 1992.
In the weeks preceding Dark Sky Island's release, Enya's various official social media accounts posted interviews with Enya and her lyricist Roma Ryan, previews for the album, exclusive photos and 'behind the scenes' moments, [22] lyric and regular music videos, and information on iTunes' exclusive early releases of the album's songs. This is the first use of social media to promote Enya's music as well as using it for giving fans exclusive, official information and content. [23] [24] [25]
Embarking upon the promotional trip for Dark Sky Island, Enya herself initially promoted the album in Britain and Ireland, being interviewed for The Irish Times , [26] before guesting on Lorraine and on BBC Radio 4's BBC Front Row on 19 November 2015, and on other major radio shows like The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 and Gerry Kelly's show on BBC Radio Ulster upon the album's release day. [27] [28] [29] [30] She then promoted the album worldwide with interviews in Japan and the US on news and morning television. [31] [32] [33]
On 13 December 2015, Enya gave a surprise performance at the Universal Studios Japan Christmas Show in Osaka, Japan, of two songs—"Orinoco Flow" and "Echoes in Rain", as a "surprise gift" to her Japanese fans. She also complimented the "spectacular" celebrations of that day. [34]
Enya was interviewed twice in 2016; on 18 January by Russell Davies on BBC Radio 2's The Art of Artists. [35] and on 2 March by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2's Simon Mayo Drivetime after guesting on This Morning . [36]
To promote the album in the United States, Enya performed "Echoes in Rain" on Live! with Kelly and Michael , "Even in the Shadows" on Good Day New York and was interviewed on HuffPost Live . [37] She would perform the song again at the 2016 ECHO Awards.
Dark Sky Island was released on CD and as a digital download on 20 November 2015. It was released on LP on 18 December 2015.
Two promotional singles from the album were released. "So I Could Find My Way" was released digitally on 30 October 2015. Its music video, released on 6 November, features Enya performing in the Chapel Royal Church in Dublin with a female string ensemble and choir. [38] "The Humming..." was released digitally on 13 November with an accompanying lyric video released the same day. [39]
Dark Sky Island entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 4, Enya's highest-charting album there since Paint the Sky with Stars (1997). [40] In the United States, Dark Sky Island debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, with 48,000 equivalent album units; it sold 46,000 copies in its first week of release. [41]
Dark Sky Island ended 2015 as the 40th best selling album of the year with sales of 900,000 copies worldwide. [42]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 6.7/10 [43] |
Metacritic | 78/100 [44] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [45] |
Evening Standard | [46] |
Fort Worth Star-Telegram | [47] |
The Guardian | [48] |
The Irish Times | [49] |
Música Nueva | [50] |
Newsday | B+ [51] |
Pitchfork | 7.1/10 [52] |
Dark Sky Island received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 8 reviews. In his review for AllMusic, Timothy Monger rated the album four stars out of five. He wrote the album "has all the thematic and sonic hallmarks typical of an Enya release but with significantly more highlights than on her two prior works" and highlights "The Humming" as "one of the strongest tracks she's produced in decades and resembles a dark cousin to 1991's masterwork 'Caribbean Blue'". He summarised the album "does manage to harness some of the power and creativity of Enya's early days and pairs it with both the confidence and shadows of age". [45] In the Evening Standard , John Aizlewood gave the album the same rating, calling it "magnificent in every sense" with "songs built up with layer upon layer of vocals ... layer upon layer of instrumentation and layer upon layer of luxurious, uplifting, undeniably spiritual warmth". [46]
Siobhan Kane of The Irish Times rated the album four stars out of five, praising Enya's vocal power "that manages to be both frail and strong" on "So I Could Find My Way", and summarised the album as "nourishing and immersive". [49] Brad Nelson in his review for Pitchfork, likened the album to "being embraced by air" and said with "some confidence" that Dark Sky Island was Enya's best album since The Memory of Trees (1995), released almost twenty years prior; he gave a positive review and score of 7.1 out of 10. He praised Enya for "drifting somewhat from her aesthetic" and highlighted "Even in the Shadows" as a prime example and consequently called it "one of the best [songs] on the album". [52]
All music by Enya, lyrics by Roma Ryan, all songs produced by Nicky Ryan.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Humming" | 3:45 |
2. | "So I Could Find My Way" | 4:25 |
3. | "Even in the Shadows" | 4:14 |
4. | "The Forge of the Angels" | 5:14 |
5. | "Echoes in Rain" | 3:35 |
6. | "I Could Never Say Goodbye" | 3:29 |
7. | "Dark Sky Island" | 4:57 |
8. | "Sancta Maria" | 3:51 |
9. | "Astra et Luna" | 3:21 |
10. | "The Loxian Gates" | 3:34 |
11. | "Diamonds on the Water" | 3:35 |
Total length: | 44:05 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "Solace" | 3:58 |
13. | "Pale Grass Blue" | 3:34 |
14. | "Remember Your Smile" | 2:57 |
Total length: | 54:36 |
Credits are adapted from the album's 2015 liner notes. [54]
Musicians
Production
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [104] | Gold | 35,000^ |
Belgium (BEA) [105] | Gold | 15,000* |
Canada (Music Canada) [106] | Gold | 40,000^ |
Germany (BVMI) [107] | Gold | 100,000‡ |
Hungary (MAHASZ) [108] | Platinum | 2,000^ |
Japan | — | 50,000 [109] |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [110] | Gold | 7,500^ |
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) [111] | Gold | 10,000^ |
South Korea | — | 925 [112] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [113] | Gold | 100,000* |
Summaries | ||
Worldwide | — | 900,000 [42] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Edition(s) | Format(s) | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Various | 20 November 2015 |
| Warner Bros. | [114] | |
18 December 2015 | Standard | [115] |
Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. Enya is the best-selling Irish solo artist, with an estimated 80 million albums sold worldwide, and the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the rock band U2. The music of Enya has been widely recognised for featuring multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music. Enya's music compositions span across four decades; she has been recording music since the 1980s.
A Day Without Rain is the fifth studio album by Irish singer-songwriter and musician Enya, released on 20 November 2000 by WEA in Europe and on 21 November 2000 by Reprise Records in the US. Following a promotional tour in support of her compilation albums Paint the Sky with Stars and A Box of Dreams in late 1997, Enya started work on a new studio album in mid-1998 with her longtime recording partners, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. In a musical departure from her keyboard-oriented sound, Enya incorporates a string section in her songs.
Watermark is the second studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 19 September 1988 by WEA. After the release of her previous album Enya (1987), she secured a recording contract with Warner following a chance meeting with chairman Rob Dickins, who had become a fan of her music. Her contract allowed her considerable artistic and creative freedom, with minimal interference from the label and no deadlines. Enya recorded Watermark in ten months with her long-time collaborators: manager, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. It was initially recorded in Ireland in demo form before production relocated to London to re-record, mix, and master it digitally. Watermark features music in different styles, displaying Enya's sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards, percussion instruments, and elements of Celtic, ambient, and new-age music, though Enya believes her music does not belong in the latter genre.
Shepherd Moons is the third studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 4 November 1991 by WEA. After the unexpected critical and commercial success of her previous album Watermark (1988), Enya embarked on a worldwide promotional tour to support it. At its conclusion, she wrote and rehearsed new material for her next album with her long time recording partners, manager, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. The album was recorded in Ireland and London and continued to display Enya's sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards and elements of Celtic and new-age music.
The Memory of Trees is the fourth studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 20 November 1995 by WEA. After travelling worldwide to promote her previous album Shepherd Moons (1991), and contributing to film soundtracks, Enya took a short break before she started writing and recording a new album in 1993 with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. The album is Enya's first to be recorded entirely in Ireland, and covers themes that include Irish and Druid mythology, the idea of one's home, journeys, religion, dreams, and love. Enya continues to display her sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards and elements of Celtic and new age music, though Enya does not consider her music to be in the latter genre. She sings in English, Irish, Latin, and Spanish.
Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya is the first greatest hits album by Irish singer-songwriter Enya, released on 3 November 1997 by WEA. Following her worldwide promotional tour in support of her previous album The Memory of Trees (1995), Enya began selecting tracks for a compilation album in early 1997, as her recording contract with WEA permitted her to do so. The album contains songs from her debut album Enya (1987) to The Memory of Trees (1995) and two new tracks, "Paint the Sky with Stars" and "Only If...".
Enya is the debut studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released in March 1987 by BBC Records in the UK and by Atlantic Records in the US. It was renamed as The Celts for the 1992 international re-release of the album by WEA Records in Europe and by Reprise Records in the US. The album features a selection of music that she recorded for the soundtrack to The Celts, a BBC documentary series about the origins, growth, and influence of Celtic culture.
"Evening Falls..." is a new-age song by Irish singer-songwriter Enya. It was released in December 1988 as the second single from her second album, Watermark (1988). It was written by Enya and her long-time collaborator Roma Ryan, and produced by Roma's husband Nicky Ryan.
"Anywhere Is" is a song by Irish singer Enya, released on 6 November 1995 by WEA as the lead single from her fourth studio album, The Memory of Trees (1995). The lyrics of the song are in English, written by Roma Ryan and it was produced by Nicky Ryan. The song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-10 hit in Austria, Iceland, and Ireland. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song peaked at number 36. Its music video was directed by David Scheinmann.
"Only Time" is a song by Irish musician Enya. It was released on 6 November 2000 as the lead single from her fifth studio album, A Day Without Rain (2000). The song reached number one in Canada, Germany, Poland and Switzerland, number two in Austria, and became Enya's only top-10 single as a solo artist in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became an anthem for the victims of the 11 September attacks, with Enya donating to a fund for the victims' families.
"May It Be" is a song by the Irish recording artist Enya. She and Roma Ryan respectively composed and wrote lyrics to the song, for Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The song entered the German Singles Chart at number one in 2002, and Enya performed it at the 74th Academy Awards. "May It Be" was acclaimed by music critics and received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
The discography of Irish singer-songwriter Enya consists of eight studio albums, two compilation albums, twenty-one singles as lead artist and a number of other appearances. Enya achieved a breakthrough in her career in 1988 with the album Watermark, containing the big hit song "Orinoco Flow" which topped the UK Singles Chart and the European Hot 100 Singles.
Amarantine is the sixth studio album by Irish singer-songwriter and musician Enya, released on 21 November 2005 by Warner Bros. Records internationally and by Reprise Records in the United States the next day. Following the release of her 2002 compilation box set Only Time – The Collection, Enya took a short break before she started work on a new album in September 2003, her first since A Day Without Rain (2000). Amarantine was recorded in Ireland with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. It is Enya's first album not to include a song in Irish and her first to include songs sung in Japanese and Loxian, a fictional language created by Roma.
Loxian is a fictional artistic language and alphabet created by Irish poet and lyricist Roma Ryan. A longtime recording and business partner of Irish singer-songwriter and musician Enya, she created the language during the production of the latter's sixth studio album, Amarantine (2005).
Roma Shane Ryan is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, who lives in Killiney, Ireland, with her husband Nicky Ryan. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of the Ryans' contributions is such that without them, Enya would not exist.
Only Time: The Collection is a box set from Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 5 November 2002 in the United States and on 2 December 2002 in Europe. The set contains 51 tracks across four discs that spans her 1987 debut album Enya through her 2002 single "May It Be". A 48-page booklet with liner notes and lyrics by her longtime lyricist Roma Ryan is included. The video of "Oíche Chiúin " is also included on the fourth disc, the performance comes from the BBC programme Christmas Day in the Morning aired on 25 December 1996 and was recorded at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. In addition to this computer playable video, there is also a screensaver in the cover art motif and a slideshow of pictures from the booklet. This release was a limited worldwide release of 200,000, with US sales of over 60,000 copies. The selection of songs was made by Enya, Nicky and Roma.
And Winter Came... is the seventh studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 7 November 2008 by Warner Bros. Records internationally and by Reprise Records in the United States on 11 November 2008. After recording new Christmas songs for her fourth EP Sounds of the Season: The Enya Collection (2006), Enya started work on a Christmas album of traditional carols and original tracks, but the idea was changed to a collection of songs with a Christmas or winter theme as it better suited the style of the new material. It was recorded with her longtime collaborators, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan.
The Very Best of Enya is the second greatest hits album by the Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 23 November 2009 by Warner Bros. Records.
"Echoes in Rain" is a single by Irish musician, composer, songwriter and singer Enya, the song is the lead single and final recording on her eighth studio album Dark Sky Island (2015), the song was released on 9 October 2015 through the record label Warner Bros. Records.
Day Breaks is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Norah Jones, released on October 7, 2016, through Blue Note Records. The album features nine original songs and three covers. Jones returned to a piano-driven sound as heard on releases early in her career. It peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200, becoming her sixth album to reach the top ten. Day Breaks received positive reviews from music critics, with many praising the album's production and Jones' vocals with many comparing it favorably to her debut album Come Away with Me. Jones promoted the album with television performances and interviews.
Behind the scenes #enyamoment