[1] Less Than a Pearl (Enya/R.Ryan) - 3:44
[2] Amarantine (Enya/R.Ryan) - 3:12
[3] It's in the Rain (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:08
[4] If I Could Be Where You Are (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:00
[5] The River Sings (Enya/R.Ryan) - 2:49
[6] Long, Long Journey (Enya/R.Ryan) - 3:17
[7] Sumiregusa (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:42
[8] Someone Said Goodbye (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:02
[9] A Moment Lost (Enya/R.Ryan) - 3:08
[10] Drifting (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:11
[11] Amid the Falling Snow (Enya/R.Ryan) - 3:38
[12] Water Shows the Hidden Heart (Enya/R.Ryan) - 4:39
Mit Enyas Namen verbinden Millionen in aller Welt zeitlose Musik voller
Wärme, echter Gefühle und natürlicher Balance, ungemein geschmack- und
kunstvoll komponiert, arrangiert und produziert. Mit
schlafwandlerischer Sicherheit vermeidet sie jeden Bombast und jede
überflüssige Note. Enya´s neues Album erscheint genau zur richtigen
Zeit: Zu Beginn des Winters, in dem die Nächte lang sind und die Träume
von Licht und Farbe handeln. Es trägt den Titel Amarantine und verweist
damit auf eine Anemonensorte, jene Wüstenblume, die jahrelang in
trockenem Zustand überlebt und zu grüner Pracht aufgeht, wenn sie mit
Wasser in Berührung kommt. Schon im Alten Testament galt die Amarant
als Symbol für Werden und Vergehen, für den ewigen Kreislauf des Lebens
und die Wiedergeburt.
After a five-year silence in the wake of her
phenomenally successful release A DAY WITHOUT RAIN, Enya reemerged in
2005 with AMARANTINE. The singer knows better than to mess with a good
thing, and all of the hallmarks of her sound are here: the evocative
Celtic overtones, the symphonic arrangements and lush soundscapes, and
the singer's pure, haunting vocals. Additionally, Enya's long-time
creative sidekicks--producer arranger Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma
Ryan--are on board here too, and the time-tested results show.
AMARANTINE, a poetic name for a mythical, everlasting flower, is an
appropriate metaphor for the music. Luxuriant, mysterious, and with a
deep aesthetic sense, Enya's music seems to surge and unfurl like a
blooming flower. Fans who feared Enya may have lost her touch since
this album's multi-platinum predecessor can rest easy. Atmospheric,
stirring, and masterfully executed, AMARANTINE is as fully realized and
accomplished as anything the artist has released.
Second only to U2 as the most successful Irish recording artist of all
time, Enya has built an empire out of multi-tracking her beautiful
voice over the same keyboard patches that appeared on her post-Clannad
debut since 1987. It's an empire that has progressed at a slow burn,
peaking in 2000 and 2001 with her chart-topping ballad and unofficial
post-September 11th anthem, "Only Time." Amarantine, Enya's first
full-length album in five years, builds on her reputation as the
world's premier purveyor of audio comfort food, providing another
collection of mini-soundtracks that are often as awkward in their
earnestness as they are breathtaking in their production. Boasting 12
new songs that retain the tapestry of sound that is her trademark,
while stealthily stripping it of some of its excess, Enya has managed
to both repeat herself and move forward without losing anything in the
translation. Besides the swirling, "Ebudae"-esque "The River Sings,"
Enya, lyricist Roma Ryan, and producer Nicky Ryan have crafted the most
subtle record of their careers, a move that may alienate some
Watermark-era purists. Standout tracks like "Long, Long Journey,"
"Water Shows the Hidden Heart," and the gorgeous -- but lyrically
embarrassing -- title cut show a newfound understanding of the simple
power of Enya's voice, resulting in an intimacy that's eluded previous
releases. While Amarantine will do nothing to win over the wrongly
pegged new age artist's many detractors, longtime fans will find enough
moments of serendipitous pleasure to hold them over for another five
years.
James Christopher Monger - All Music Guide
From the first blanket of choral voices awash in reverb, Amarantine is
instantly recognizable as a product of Enya, the Irish chanteuse who
has created a genre unto herself. Although it's been five years since
her last CD, on Amarantine it's as if time stood still. The triumvirate
of Enya, lyricist Roma Ryan, and producer Nicky Ryan work the formula
they perfected on Watermark, layering her voice in lush choirs pushed
along by pizzicato synth strings, swooning orchestral pads, and
harpsichord arpeggios. On tracks like "Less Than a Pearl" and
"Drifting," Enya flirts with a timeless sound born in gothic chants and
hymns. The former is one of three songs that she sings in Roma Ryan's
fictitious language of Loxian. It seems to free her, especially on "The
River Sings," a veritable rave-up where she gets the tribal choir going
in the style of Scottish mouth music. But to get there you have to slog
through slo-mo ballads that manage to be dirge-like and singsong at the
same time, like the Carpenters on Quaaludes. The relatively restrained
arrangement of "It's in the Rain" almost attains a folk-like simplicity
that Enya hasn't experienced since she sang with her siblings in
Clannad a quarter-century ago. Amarantine sounds like it was born in
cloistered solitude, self-referentially echoing Enya albums past.
John Diliberto - Amazon.com
Poesie, Sanftmut, Schönklang - diese Begriffe kennzeichnen einmal
mehr die Musik von Enya. Auch auf ihrem sechsten Studioalbum erschafft
sie eine Welt der Harmonie und inneren Einkehr, offeriert dem
Zuhörer eine Oase der Ruhe und Besinnlichkeit. Die Irin aus
Gweedore im County Donegal bleibt also dem soften New-Age-Pop treu, den
man seit Charterfolgen wie "Orinoco Flow" und "Only Time" mit ihr
verbindet. Das Festhalten an bewährten Erfolgsformeln in Ehren,
man kommt jedoch nicht umhin, die doch recht häufigen
Selbstreferenzen der Künstlerin vom Eire-Eiland zu registrieren.
Abgesehen von einem Lied auf Japanisch ("Wild Violet" basiert auf einem
Haiku des Dichters Basho) sowie drei Songpoemen in der erfundenen
Sprache "Loxianisch" ist seit dem fünf Jahre zurückliegenden
Album A Day Without Rain alles beim Alten geblieben. Ohne merkliche
Veränderungen wiederholt Eithne Ní Bhraonáin (so der
bürgerliche Name) hier das bekannte Soundkonzept aus
Melodiemotiven der keltischen Folkloretradition, sakralen
Frauenchören, die sie wiederum ganz allein via Mehrspurverfahren
im Studio eingesungen hat, symphonischen Klangtexturen und
Popelementen. Auch in den Songtexten bleib alles beim Alten: In Versen,
für die erneut Roma Ryan verantwortlich zeichnet, singt Enya wie
gehabt von der Macht der Liebe ("If I Could Be Where You Are"), von
Naturmetaphern ("Amid The Falling Snow", "It's In The Rain") und
kosmologischen Schöpfungsmythen ("Less Than A Pearl"). Fans der
ersten Stunde werden den Einwand des künstlerischen Stillstands
freilich mit dem Hinweis auf Enyas Beständigkeit entkräften.
Und da ist ja auch was dran: In einer Ära der kurzlebigen Moden
tut es ganz gut, wenn hin und wieder wenigstens ein paar Dinge konstant
bleiben. Vielleicht hat Enya deshalb den Albumtitel Amarantine
gewählt. Er steht für eine Pflanze aus der Familie der
Fuchsschwanzgewächse, und die stellt in vielen Regionen unsrer
Erde ein Symbol für Zähheit, für Unvergänglichkeit
dar.
Harald Kepler - Amazon.de
It's been five years since Enya last emerged from the studio with a new
album -- a huge span in the realm of pop culture, but a mere blip in
the seemingly changeless sonic universe ruled by the Irish singer. In
some ways, Amaratine picks up the thread Enya left dangling with A Day
Without Rain -- the misty perspectives, the cocooning vocal layers --
but she does expand the palette. For one thing, she's moved away from
singing in her native Gaelic, largely concentrating on English-language
material but also roving into Japanese (on the breathless "Sumiregusa")
and an invented tongue she's dubbed Loxian. The three songs in the
latter language -- which longtime lyricist Rona Ryan adapted from
Tolkien's Elvish dialect -- are perhaps the disc's most hypnotic, in
part because listeners are left with little choice but to drift along
and accept Enya's vocal lines as just another instrument (albeit a
gorgeous one). She makes the most of that venture on the appropriately
titled "Drifting," which builds to peaks suited to a Gothic cathedral,
but most intriguing is the album's overall restraint, which is
particularly palpable on folk-like songs such as "It's in the Rain," a
brisk tune that's reminiscent of Enya's work with Clannad all those
years ago. Then again, this is Enya's world, where time melts away with
the merest breath -- a source of delight, no doubt, to its many
visitors.
Out of night has come the day.
Out of night, our small earth.
Our words drift away.
Our words journey
To find those who will listen.
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
Less than a pearl in a sea of stars,
We are a lost island in the shadows.
It may be our words become lost.
It may be our words find nothing, find no-one.
We call out into the distance...
We call out into the distance...
[Repeat]
Amarantine
You know when you give your love away
It opens your heart,
Everything is new.
And you know time will always find a way
To let your heart believe it's true.
You know love is everything you say;
A whisper, a word,
Promises you give.
You feel it in the heartbeat of the day.
You know this is the way love is.
[Chorus:]
Amarantine...
Amarantine...
Amarantine...
Love is.
Love is.
Love...
You know love may sometimes make you cry,
So let the tears go,
They will flow away,
For you know love will always let you fly
...How far a heart can fly away!
[Chorus]
You know when love's shining in your eyes
It may be the stars
Fallen from above.
And you know love is with you when you rise,
For night and day belong to love.
It's In The Rain
Every time
The rain comes down,
Close my eyes and listen.
I can hear the lonesome sound
Of the sky as it cries.
Listen to the rain
Here it comes again
Hear it in the rain
Feel the touch
Of tears that fall
...They won't fall forever
In the way the day will flow
All things come,
All things go.
Listen to the rain
...The rain...
Here it comes again...
...Again...
Hear it in the rain
...The rain...
Late at night
I drift away -
I can hear you calling,
And my name
Is in the rain,
Leaves on trees whispering,
Deep blue sea's mysteries.
Even when
This moment ends,
Can't let go this feeling.
Everything
Will come again
In the sound,
Falling down,
Of the sky as it cries.
Hear my name in the rain.
If I Could Be Where You Are
Where are you this moment?
Only in my dreams.
You're missing, but you're always
A heartbeat from me.
I'm lost now without you,
I don't know where you are.
I keep watching, I keep hoping,
But time keeps us apart
Is there a way I can find you,
Is there a sign I should know,
Is there a road I could follow
To bring you back home?
Winter lies before me
Now you're so far away.
In the darkness of my dreaming
The light of you will stay
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If I could be close beside you
If I could be where you are
If I could reach out and touch you
And bring you back home
Is there a way I can find you
Is there a sign I should know
Is there a road I can follow
To bring you back home to me
The River Sings
Our words go beyond the moon.
Our words go into the shadows.
The river sings the endlessness.
We write of our journey through night.
We write in our aloneness.
We want to know the shape of eternity.
Who knows the way it is?
Who knows what time will not tell us?
Mountains, solitude and the moon
Until the journey's end?
The river holds the lost road of the sky;
The shape of eternity?
Who knows the way it is?
Who knows what time will not tell us?
Where is the beginning?
Where is the end?
Why did we fall into days?
Why are we calling out into the endlessness?
Who knows the way it is?
Who knows what time will not tell us?
Long Long Journey
City lights shine on the harbour,
Night has fallen down,
Through the darkness
And the shadow
I will still go on.
Long, long journey
Through the darkness,
Long, long way to go;
But what are miles
Across the ocean
To the heart that's coming home?
Where the road
Runs through the valley,
Where the river flows,
I will follow every highway
To the place I know.
Long, long journey
Through the darkness,
Long, long way to go;
But what are miles
Across the ocean
To the heart that's coming home?
Long, long journey
Out of nowhere,
Long, long way to go;
But what are sighs
And what is sadness
To the heart that's coming home?
[Repeat]
Sumiregusa (Wild Violet)
Mono no aware
Murasaki iro no hana
Haru no hana
To fuyu mo koyuki
Harahara
Shizen no bi kana
Ah! Midori no ha to
Aki no iro
Kaze no koe
Tori no saezuri
Kanashii umi
Yorokobino umi
Yama
Koishi
Ayamegusa
[English translation:]
The poignancy of things
A purple flower
The blossoms of spring
And the light snow of winter
How they fall
The beauty of nature
A green leaf and
Autumn colours
The voice of the wind
The song of birds
A sad sea
A joyful sea
Mountains
Pebbles
A wild iris
Someone Said Goodbye
Summer. When the day is over
There's a heart a little colder;
Someone said goodbye,
But you don't know why.
Somewhere there is someone keeping
All the tears they have been weeping,
Someone said goodbye,
But you don't know why.
Is there a reason
Why a broken heart begins to cry?
Is there a reason
You were lost although you don't know why?
Give me a reason
Why you never want to say goodbye.
If there's a reason,
I don't know why.
Always looking for a meaning,
All the time you keep believing,
But I don't know why
You won't say goodbye.
Even when the sun is shining
You don't see the silver lining,
But I don't know why
You won't say goodbye.
Is there a reason
Why a broken dream can never fly?
Is there a reason
You believe and then you close your eyes?
Give me a reason
Why you hide away so much inside.
If there's a reason,
I don't know why.
Is there a reason
Why a broken heart begins to cry?
Is there a reason
You were lost although you don't know why?
Give me a reason
Why you never want to say goodbye.
If there's a reason
I don't know why.
I don't know why.
I don't know why.
I don't know why.
A Moment Lost
It's only now when words are said
That break my heart in two,
I wonder how you can endure
All I've said, all I say to you.
How strong, how brave, how true of you
To bear the hurt I gave.
I know it tears your heart in two:
All I've said, all I say to you.
After all the words are said,
After all the dreams we made;
Every one a precious one,
Every one a summer sun...
A moment lost, forever gone,
Can never be again,
So know how much it means to me;
All you said,
All you gave,
All your love to me.
Drifting
[Instrumental]
Amid The Falling Snow
How I remember sleepless nights
When we would read by candlelight,
And on the windowpane outside
A new world made of snow;
A million feathers falling down,
A million stars that touch the ground,
So many secrets to be found
Amid the falling snow.
Maybe I am falling down.
Tell me should I touch the ground?
Maybe I won't make a sound
In the darkness all around.
The silence of a winter's night
Brings memories I hold inside;
Remembering a blue moonlight
Upon the fallen snow.
Maybe I am falling down.
Tell me should I touch the ground?
Maybe I won't make sound
In the darkness all around.
I close my window to the night.
I leave the sky her tears of white.
And all is lit by candlelight
Amid the falling snow.
Water Shows The Hidden Heart
From the City of Constellations
To the wanderer
And a Place of Rains
He journeys on...
...The City of hesitation and doubt
The Island of the house of the colour of the sea
The Plain of Mementoes
He journeys on to find his love...
...The Valley of lost time
The City of End and Endlessness
The Isle of Revenents
He journeys on...
...The City of Solitudes
The City of the distance from you
The City of Words of blue
And yellow and red and green
He journeys on to find his love...
...Where the road takes him through
The City of Sleep
The thinking that does not end is within him
Then he dreams
The road takes him
This man who is searching
It brings him
In silence through the night
Where the Cities that do not Exist, exist
It brings him
In silence through the night
Close to the City of Realisations;
It is here one finds the way...
...Mount Orison
The City of Days
The Tree of the lost
He journeys on...
...North of his love
A road through a valley of darkness
The islands that are not of this world
He journeys on to find his love...
It is a long way through darkness
To the way of the eremite
The eremite sings of the world and of
The journey of love, which is not lost in eternity
...The Valley where the moon is caught in the trees
Water shows the hidden heart
Endlong into midnight
He journeys on...
...The parable of day
The Room of Books
Where the winds come to him and say...