Enya-"Dark Sky Island" Review

Since 2015 was a year in which the mainstream turned to placid and soulless pop, perhaps there was no greater time for Irish siren Enya to return from her castle and deliver her first LP in seven years, "Dark Sky Island". To get the obvious out of the way, it is indeed just as ethereal and sonically rich as every one of her previous albums. After a career spanning three decades, what more was there for Enya to do in the realm of new-age pop? Well, after taking a considerable beating from critics since her "Only Time" sleeper-hit success, she actually takes a look back at her best music, bringing back the purity of "Watermark" and "Shepherd Moons" to prove that her eternally reliable formula is solid, transcendent, and can go toe to toe with the best music of its era. Though elements of her post-2000 work remain--Loxian language, no real instruments (except for a double bass cameo), lyrics with heavy allusions to stars and nature--Enya was savvy enough to push the melody ahead of the multi-vocal tapestry, placing equal emphasis on sound and song. Many tracks, chiefly "The Humming", "Diamonds on the Water", and "The Loxian Gates", revisit the low-slung 6/8 feel of Enya classics such as "The Celts" and "Boadicea", while others like "Echoes in Rain" and "The Forge of the Angels" mine the similar territory of "It's in the Rain" and "The Journey of the Angels" (no one ever said Enya didn't blatantly repeat herself through her career...). Then, there are the few songs that achieve the old-meets-new fusion quite successfully, with the best being "So I Could Find My Way" (though "Astra et Luna" is a close second). While it's playing, there's no denying that "Dark Sky Island" contains some of Enya's most accomplished music in years--it could even convert a few non-believers!-but when the final beat clicks, the sad truth is that a large portion of these songs are just not as memorable as her 90s masterworks. The sound is gracefully soft, the words and production don't push into 80s cheese too much, but aside from the careful construction, nothing else really stands out here. "Dark Sky Island" is one of those records that plays like a record, but loses interest with the consistently subdued atmosphere and soggy tempos. It's a step up from the flimsy "And Winter Came" for sure, but given the sheer pedigree of the artist and production team behind this project, it's hard to not wish that it had strayed from tradition a little. Of course, consistency has always made Enya such an unlikely star, but recapturing the important aspects of her best material on "Dark Sky Island" proves why her early works were her best, which turns this record into a synthesis of career rather than a strong statement of purpose.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. The Humming                 2. So I Could Find My Way         3. Even in the Shadows
4. The Forge of the Angels   6. Echoes in Rain               7. I Could Never Say Goodbye
8. Sancta Maria                     9. Astra et Luna                     10. The Loxian Gates
11. Diamonds on the Water