Who can say where the score goes…?
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Ramzi Awn: It’s hard to know what to say about Enya. I will definitely be playing “Echoes In Rain” wherever I am for Thanksgiving. I might even buy it for someone as a gift. Will it be available as a single on CD? Probably not, which is a shame. Enya’s needlework approach to song-making is almost akin to the America’s Next Top Model television franchise pioneered by Tyra Banks: sure, there may be some changes from season to season, but the formula’s always the same, and it always works. I have nothing but thanks for Enya, and however many homages to rain she wishes to write.
[8]
Katherine St Asaph: You wouldn’t think it’s possible to play the authenticity game in the New Age/classical crossover world, but it totally is and I totally did. The artistry spectrum goes something like this: a great hypothetical artistic and/or ethereal land to one side, fillable by whoever you’re a fan of; then maybe Clannad, Moya Brennan solo, Enya after her, onward and backward through Hayley Westenra and Celtic Woman and Susan Boyle and Katherine Jenkins. There’s a lot to unpack here, but at least part of it is a fear of pop. Because you cannot tell me “Echoes in Rain” is not based on, or at least in passing acquaintance with, “Alone.” A triumphant, expensive orchestral bridge to “Alone” that never returns to the chorus.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Less a song and more a daily affirmation, this is like a pool you just float on to refresh your brain. That’s been my image of Enya, based on morning car-pool radio and various YouTube memorial videos using “Only Time,” as music to soak yourself in to keep going forward. “Echoes In Rain” is more direct about that — the message boils down to “time moves on, but I can deal” — and just as vaguely inspirational as her other big songs, and like them they are fine but a little too grand in scope.
[5]
Alfred Soto: Where once her Fairlights spoke Gaelic, she now ladles inspirational hokum over orchestral stabs with a firm eye on Ron Howard’s agent. Nevertheless, like Sade, her fan base fascinates me. Expect this new album to linger as a catalog item for years.
[2]
Micha Cavaseno: There’s a goofiness to the “alleluia” that implies an odd amount of tongue in cheek for an Enya song, but beyond that it IS an Enya song. Not much else to say more or less, other than I can’t find it being very inspiring for those moments of odd gravity, nor will this one probably be inexplicably flipped into a dancehall classic so oh well.
[4]
John Seroff: Oh sure, it seems soporific at first, but when the beat drops and the 808’s kick in, you’re gonna lose your MIND. +1 for the Young Thug guest spot, most unexpected.
[3]
Brad Shoup: Stately, synthesized, triumphant.
[7]
Jessica Doyle: My favorite Enya song is “Anywhere Is”; I remember being struck by the poignancy of You go there, you’re gone forever / I go there, I lose my way / We stay here, we’re not together against an increasingly insistent snare drum. It gave the song a propulsion that “Echoes in Rain” doesn’t have. I think the combination of the alleluias and the repeated strings are supposed to suggest hope, or gratitude, or both; as if Enya admired “Pied Beauty” but wanted something quieter and more determined. But she and the strings stay static when I want them to move.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: One of the best pieces of writing I’ve come across in the past decade is Luke Turner’s “25 Years On” reappraisal of Enya’s Watermark, the 1988 album that made her a global superstar. Reading it earlier this year, anthologized in the 33 1/3 book How To Write About Music, made me decide to do a deep dive into her discography — easy, as just about every one of her albums is available for $1 at my local (San Francisco) music temple, Amoeba. To my surprise, having previously only been familiar with Enya via her hit singles, I’ve discovered a catalog that’s rich in texture, some superb production courtesy of Nicky Ryan, and glorious multi-tracked harmonies, which are all Enya. (Her other collaborator, Ryan’s wife Roma, writes most of Enya’s lyrics.) Her sound is incredibly enveloping, and that continues on “Echoes In Rain,” complete with synthesized strings, an electric piano bridge, and those remarkable, heavily layered vocals. The studio prowess of Enya and the Ryans shouldn’t be understated; they know precisely what they’re doing, and what they do results in maximum impact. This is a gorgeous, sumptuous single, same as it ever was — which in this case is a very good thing.
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