Music Monday #37: The Very Best of Enya

And now, Enya.  Thank you Steve Hughes for the inspiration to place Enya at this point on the list, if you have no idea what I am referring to look up "Steve Hughes Enya" and you'll see. 

Balance out darkness with light, let positivity counter negativity, let relaxation remedy stress and angst.  These are fairly basic concepts, but they are effective strategies and so often in life we come to believe that the simplest solutions are too simple and couldn't possibly be effective so we abandon them with time favouring more complex solutions.  Enya's music is mellow, relaxing, and as Steve put it, "like silence coloured in" which is a rather beautiful and apt way to describe her musical style.  I've chosen the greatest hits album of 'The Very Best Of Enya' because it covers pretty much everything I want to cover.

The first track I want to pay particular attention to is 'Orinoco Flow' that offers a mediation in reflection as Enya leads you on a journey around the world across continents the music carries you.  Trixie Mattel once joked in an episode of UNHhhh, her web series with Katya Zamolodchikova, that Enya makes "Witch Music" which I think again is quite an apt description, not inferring darkness or light but rather the nature of her music holding an appeal that runs deeper than something surface and base.  Orinoco Flow is somewhat repetitive and hypnotic and without going into great depth here, actually incorporates some chanting structures that are shared with some schools of witchcraft, I'm not saying necessarily that this was intended but it's worth noting that Orinoco Flow like the name suggests is intended to flow and carry the consciousness in repetition interspersed with progression, so make of that what you will.

One of my favourite tracks on this album I want to pay specific attention to is 'Only Time' for its lyrical structure.  This song speaks to me and my weariness with life, the confusion and disorientation I have often felt, and the search for greater meaning.  The lyrics "Who can say where the road goes, Where the day flows, only time, And who can say if your love grows, As your heart chose, only time" these represent the promise that clarity will come with time, that in the moment looking to the present and to the future you may feel lost and confused and unable to make sense of things but time heals all wounds and clarity will come in time - this might not always be the literal case but it speaks to the importance of finding patience in life, some questions can't be answered in the moment and if you focus on them too much they will consume you.  Sometimes you have to step back, breathe, let go and trust that clarity will come.  We don't always get to know why we fall in love with the people we do, or why things happen the way the happen, that's part of life.

Enya's music really does speak to those who are weary and tired of the world, where Guns N' Roses and Hard Rock, Metal, and genres like them feed the anger and the darker emotions, Enya feeds the tranquillity and the lighter emotions, but ultimately they both speak to the same impetus but these parallels are the associations as yet only a human mind can draw, algorithms can't yet accurately identify the association and identify mood so as to offer suggestions of music that you might like that aren't ham fisted.  In the mindset of listening to GNR you won't be receptive to Enya and likewise in the middle of shuffling through Enya tracks one of GNR would be entirely out of place and unwelcome but both can exist in someone's music library as in mine, for the exact same reason, that ultimately they both offer a means to process emotions, thoughts and feelings that you otherwise don't know how to process albeit in very different ways.

I listen to the entire album either on shuffle or sometimes in order when I want to unwind, Enya's music is easy to listen to, easy to take when you don't want to put in a lot of energy.  There's only one other track I want to single out from this album and that is 'May It Be' which featured on the soundtrack to 'The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring' which is centred around Frodo's journey but also reflects the journey we all make in life, it reflects the weight that we carry and how hard that path can be and offers hope and optimism and the lyrics "When the night is overcome, You may rise to find the sun" emphasising perseverance and the promise that there is something left to live for, something to reach for, something more that will come to you if you can make it.