It is almost hard to fathom that this music, which sounds as if it were sung by an entire elven folk, is the work of only three people: Enya herself, producer Nicky Ryan, and lyricist Roma Ryan. They stack voice upon voice—sometimes up to five hundred layers deep—until a Wall of Sound is created that is comparable to nothing else. It is pop music without gravity.
10. Boadicea
Not a single word is sung, only hummed, and yet this is perhaps the most terrifying track in her oeuvre. Enya channels the spirit of the Celtic warrior queen Boudicca here, and you feel the threat in every note. It is dark, repetitive, and hypnotic. The Fugees (and later Mario Winans) understood that dark power and sampled it, but the original remains the most haunting. This is Enya not seeking to please, but to haunt.
9. Wild Child
When people think of Enya, they often imagine slow, ethereal sounds by candlelight, but she is certainly capable of letting the sun in. This song bounces. Uptempo strings, a rhythm that almost leans toward pop, and lyrics about being carefree make this a rare burst of pure joy. It sounds like a fresh spring day in a discography that often lingers in the mist.
8. Storms in Africa
It begins with thundering drums that sound like they are being struck miles away. This song is a weather change in audio form. Enya sings in Gaelic, not to tell a story, but to use her voice as an instrument. The sounds are percussive and earthy. Where her other work often takes to the skies, here you feel the heat and the dust of the savannah. A masterful creation of atmosphere.
7. Amarantine
Sometimes English, or even Gaelic, is not sufficient to capture the emotion that Enya and the Ryans are looking for. So they did what any self-respecting fantasy writer would do: they invented a language. Loxian, a fictional language created by Roma Ryan, dominates this track. It sounds pretentious on paper, but listen to the performance: it gives the melody an otherworldly quality. It is about eternal love, sung in words that no one speaks, but everyone understands.
6. Evening Falls…
Is it a lullaby or a song about dying? The line here is razor-thin. The production is so heavily layered with reverb and vocal tracks that it sounds like a choir of spirits in an empty house. “The dark is here.” The song balances perfectly on the edge of comfort and unease. It is the soundtrack for the moment twilight falls and the world goes quiet for a moment, just before it turns truly dark.
5. May It Be
When Peter Jackson was looking for an antidote to the violence and monsters in The Lord of the Rings, he called Enya. She is essentially an elf who happens to live in our reality, so the match was perfect. Contrary to her usual Wall of Sound, this track is remarkably bare and sober. It is a simple blessing in the darkness, a small light offering hope without becoming bombastic.
4. Watermark
This is the track where it all began, and there is almost no singing involved. It was the demo that convinced the record label: just a piano and those typical, wide synthesizer pads. It sounds like water flowing slowly. The simplicity is deceptive, as every note is placed with military precision. It proved that Enya needs no words to strike an emotional chord; the atmosphere alone is enough.
3. Caribbean Blue
Imagine a waltz, but danced on the clouds instead of in a ballroom. The time signature is classical, but the dressing is pure fantasy. The production is at its richest here; it sounds expensive, full, and packed with details you only hear after listening ten times. The melody circles around and takes you to a version of the Caribbean that isn’t on the map, but only exists in dreams.
2. Only Time
In 2001, this song suddenly took on a weight no one could have foreseen. After September 11, it became the unofficial anthem of mourning on American television. Why? Because the lyrics don’t try to comfort with clichés, but merely state the inevitability of time. “Who can say where the road goes?”. Enya sings it with a stoic calm. It is a musical embrace that asks for nothing and promises nothing, except that tomorrow is another day.
1. Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)
It starts with those sharp, plucking pizzicato strings that everyone recognizes instantly. It is a wondrous pop song: no conventional chorus, but a list of geographical locations sung by a woman who hardly ever left her house. Yet, it became a global hit. The moment the heavy drums kick in after the dreamy bridge is still magical. This song opened the door to a new genre and turned the reclusive Irishwoman into a global star.
