Amarantine – Ater a 5-year hiatus, Enya returns (a CD review)

Released this year, Amarantine is Enya’s seventh solo album, succeeding her masterpiece A Day Without Rain, which stayed a phenomenal two years on the Billboard chart.

Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, on 17 May 1961, in Dore, Gweedore, Co. Donegal, Eire, Enya, a classically trained pianist, was formerly[1] a member of Clannad before embarking on[2] a solo career that blossomed[3] unexpectedly with her 1988 UK chart-topper, "Orinoco Flow".

Enya is well known for mixing English with Gaelic, Latin, French and Spanish. In Amarantine, her lyricist Roman Ryan created a new language called Loxian. According to Enya, the language was born because the previous ones weren’t enough to express what she intended to. However, I reckon[4] this remark[5] comes after Tolkien’s languages used by Enya in The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Therefore, I believe this is a marketing strategy.

According to Amarantine’s booklet, the language is portrayed in the book Water Shows the Hidden Heart by Mrs. Ryan. The lyrics are translated to English, but the alphabet in which it’s based is really weird – it looks Arabian to me.

There are three songs in Loxian – Less than a pearl, which I tried to transcribe phonetically; The River Sings, which reminds me of Ebudae song and the amazing Water Shows the Hidden Heart. When I listened to this last piece for the first time, I thought there were some latin words such as “umbra”, meaning shadow if I’m not mistaken.

Enya continues being my favourite singer since I bought her first album in 2000. It was The Celts. I’d heard this song many times before I bought the album, but I thought it was a choir. So, how could I explain to the shop assistant it was Enya? I could even play those songs in the piano by ear, but I’m a terrible singer.
Amarantine is the result of Enya’s hard work and perfectionism. The ethereal songs are perfect to wind down after the drudgery[6] of nowadays life. The only problem is the 45-minute length, which makes me anxious to get her next albums, videos and pictures. Definetelly, I’m an Enyaholic.

356 words
[1] formerly: previously.
[2] embark on / upon sth: to start to do sth new or difficult
[3] blossom: 2- ~ (into sth) to become more healthy, confident or successful: She has visibly blossomed over the last few months. • Their friendship blossomed into love.
[4] reckon: 1- (informal) to think sth or have an opinion about sth.
[5] remark: (n) the quality of being important or interesting enough to be noticed.
[6] drudgery: (n) [U] hard boring work: domestic drudgery