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What genre is it? I dont reckon its like anything ive ever heard her music I think is unique.
Girly music.
jus sayin' ;)
if Peter Gabriel was a eunich, he'd be Enya.
So, if we take Enya as mainstream, then there's Runrig at one end of the spectrum, and Clannad at the other end. And "Dan Ar Braz" somewhere outside the spectrum... So which of these do you like?
Like the idenikit pictures made by police from eye witness reports. It sounds to me like it has been made by people who know what music is, know the technical details of how it is created, what it should sound like, what bits are important, but who don't 'feel' it.
The big, big difference is, I could see any of the others live, they can reproduce the music they record on a stage, often in an even more exciting manner. Not so with Enya. Her music is entirely constructed in a studio and incapable of being reproduced in any other way. It's manufactured music.
By identikit I mean it is music constructed from reuseable elements
Interesting. Was this term coined by yourself, or is it widely used? In German we sometimes call it "Klangklötzchen-Schieber" which roughly translates to "sample-mover" and defines people who use sampling software (Magix Music Maker, Garageband etc.) to "make" music. Actually I myself do this sometimes when I need a quick royalty free clip for a presentation, a small animation or the telephone switchboard. It's also called "elevator music".
The big, big difference is, I could see any of the others live, they can reproduce the music they record on a stage, often in an even more exciting manner.
What about perfectionists like Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones or Yello? There is no difference between a stage and a studio performance?
And you didn't disclose whether you tend more towards Runrig or Clannad :-)
Don't want to offend anyone but... Enya has always sounded derivative of The Cocteau Twins to me.
What the Cocteau Twins did that was really cool was to use a vocalist who made up words. It was so ethereal and mysterious that Peter Jackson used the lead singer's voice (Elizabeth Fraser) on the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings. The cool thing about the music is that even though her words aren't really words, the music still manages to sound meaningful.
Listen to The Cocteau Twins, the comparison between them and Enya will be like the difference between Billie Holliday and Sade. Sade works for a lot of people, and what she does is fine for what it is, but...
Their album, Pink Opaque [amazon.com], is a great place to start. Their compilation, Stars and Topsoil [towerrecords.com] is good for an overview of their career.
Aikea-Guinea, Pink Orange Red, Pale Clouded White, Orange Appled, (and the absolutely gorgeous) Carolyn's Fingers, which on the album is followed by Iceblink Luck, and Heaven or Las Vegas, from later in their career, around 1988.
If you dig stuff that is ethereal or thoughtful, then try The Cocteau Twins.
And if you dig that, then check out "It'll end in tears [towerrecords.com]" by "This Mortal Coil."
This Mortal Coil is something of a label pet project, an ever-shifting, collaborative outfit that includes members of such 4AD bands as the Cocteau Twins, Modern English, Dead Can Dance, Color Box and Wolfgang Press. True to the label's aesthetic, the music of This Mortal Coil is ethereal, abstract, dreamlike and sometimes spooky.
None of the above is pop, so I'm certain many people won't like it.
( didn't they use some Enya on the Two Towers part of LOTR? ..very gurly video! I only watched it for Liv )
But there I would take issue that elavator music covers all sampling ..Redolfi for instance?
love a lot of only possible in studio stuff too ..nowt wrong with that ..as pmkpmk does make a lot of my own stuff just for me and amusement ..
prefer bach though ..or ravi ..you can float with them two..
am Irish
it was the "live at the zenith" ...place must have either the worst acoustics in Europe or the lousiest sound engineers ..everything I ever heard done there sounds like it was done in an old bikky tin full of fish
[edited by: Leosghost at 11:56 am (utc) on Jan. 6, 2006]
what are you studying BTW?
( also it's eunuch ..which Peter isn't ..knew him .via one of my old girlfriends ..and record company I used to do stuff for ..he liked gurls ..don't 'spose he's changed ;)
Btw. listening to Enya right now. My wife turned out to own a CD of her (Watermark). Sounds like - hum - Enya...
Quantity surveying, why do you ask?
When exploring music in that genre, look for an album called "Sleeps with the fishes [fringedigital.com]" by Pieter Nooten and Michael Brook. It's obscure - you'll have to look hard - but it's well worth the search.
Brook also did some excellent work with David Sylvian. My favourite from Sylvian is "Gone To Earth", though his work on "Rain Tree Crow" was also excellent.
In more recent times, Sigur Ros have done nice things with a similar aesthetic.
If Enya turns your crank, all this might appeal to you. Though Enya is girly bubblegum, and the artists I've mentioned may be a little more challenging
