Chapter 8 - Enya - A Day Without Rain


Chapter 8 

Why in the world did you bring be an Enya album, C-k and Destroy? More importantly, how did i not know that Only Time was only as famous as it was because of 9/11? That's beyond Tusk level oblivion as far as i'm concerned. That freakin' song is lodged in my frontal cortex like a lawn dart. Probably yours too. The album that it comes from, though, is somehow critically divisive. Get this, there are actual Enya purists out there who have a strong dislike for her musical 180 into using an actual string section. Lemme check some actual chronology real quick... 

... The Score was from 1996, A Day Without Rain was from 2000, yep she'd almost certainly pocketed her portion of the 3-million dollar lawsuit money by that point, so screw Enya and her litigious string quartet money. I'm blatantly on record as saying i think sampling is totally fair use that should be exempt from royalties for the simple fact that nobody has any clue what samples anyone is using until after you decide to listen to it AND actually know the freakin' song being sampled, but that's just me. I think that Beastie Boys story is in my 3rd book (The Two Become One), but for now we move on. 

Truth is i love New Age. It's basically just catchy melodies over ambiance, right? Enya, apart from taking as much money as possible from Fugees, is a New Age icon and pioneer of Modern Irish music, second only to U2 (whoever they were). Her first biggest hit was Orinoco Flow (that's the "sail away, sail away, sail away" one where she mumble raps the verses) way back in 1988, with decidedly synthesized string plucks. I think she must have bargained her soul with some ancient Pagan deity for telekinetic powers because as soon as the music starts your body will involuntarily contort into a complex Yoga pose with a naughty sounding name more suited to an embarrasingly awkward Twister situation among congenial acquaintances. Grab your Kindergarden nap mat and change into your Lycra brand spandex short shorts, we're about to writhe in the agonexctasy of the entire A Day Without Rain album. 

There's one more thing Enya is pretty famous for, no not that song from The Lord of the Rings movies, singing songs in Latin and other Romance languages just because she can. We get one of those for track 3, Tempus Vernum. It's freakin' awesome. Don't let my sour snarky candy coating fool you, i adore this. If that seems weird, then i'm gonna let you in on a little secret. There're two ways to approach it, and i think you'll be pleasantly surprised by both of them. First, this is all just highly luscious and approachable contemporary classical music. You can hear that, right? Lush orchestration with enough reverb to obscure a lighthouse, lilting tonal melodies, adventurous harmonic excursions. Super simple phrasing, sure, but these are totally wonderful compositions that you'd totally enjoy hearing your local symphony/concert choir perform (except for the fact that it would be ludicrously expensive to actually do it). 

Second, and my personal favorite) this is all just the Prog component of Prog Rock expanded into full pieces rather than merely intros and interludes. Try listening to it like that, Enya is Medieval Metal AF. 

I'm of course joking, but not really. Set aside her totally awkward milf image, some of these songs could have Punk versions, and My Chemical Romance could do a cover of at least one of them. Oh, don't get all huffy puffy about that "awkward milf" comment. You're not fooling anyone, you pervs. You nodded off into daydream land and ended up chasing a giggling Enya around a waterfall in an Irish Spring soap commercial or saving her from 17th-century pirates or something similar, same as i did. No one would mistake her for the new stripper-pole aerobics instructor (they gave that position to Lzzy Hale), but Enya (much like Gates McFadden) was by no means unattractive according to standard Staci's (or in the latter case, Wesley's) mom standards. 

So, to sum up, i think we can all agree that Enya's A Day Without Rain is a completely lovely and relaxing listen for this Saturday day-spa portion of the 3-day weekend. You know what that means, don't you? It means the next album will be the exact opposite, mwahahahaha....

Chapter 9

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