Never given the credit for being the maverick pioneers they were, the threesome who craft Enya’s records – Enya Brennan herself, plus husband and wife lyricist Roma Ryan and producer Nicky – sold a jaw dropping 75 million records and played precisely zero concerts.
Now, a mere seven years since the Christmas(ish) album And Winter Came… comes Dark Sky Island and it’s Enya in excelsis: more of the same, but somehow bigger, brighter and even more detailed than before.
Stripped down, The Humming, The Forge Of The Angels and the rest, would be pretty pop songs, but with a production vision every bit as inspired as Phil Spector’s, these songs built up with layer upon layer of vocals (some in Roma Ryan’s invented language, Loxian), layer upon layer of instrumentation and layer upon layer of luxurious, uplifting, undeniably spiritual warmth.
Magnificent, in every sense.
(Warner Bros)
