Dark Sky Island

 

‘Dark Sky Island’ is Enya’s eight studio album, announced on 16 September 2015 and released on 20 November 2015, seven years after ‘And Winter Came’. Enya started working on it in 2012 after she took a three-year musical break. Like always, Enya performs all the vocals and instruments on the album herself, with the exception of Eddie Lee’s contribution on ‘Even in the Shadows’.

The album was released digitally, on cd, and for the first time since 1992 also on vinyl. The standard version includes eleven tracks, the deluxe version contains three additional songs. To despair of Enya collectors around the world, there were no commercially available singles or b-sides, only a few promotional singles without exclusive artwork.

MUSIC

If you haven’t heard the album yet, this video containing excerpts from all the songs is a great start. It was published on Enya’s official Youtube channel two weeks before the official release date and we all listened to it 4879 times on loop while counting the days until the entire album would be available.

Suprisingly enough, the album became legally available for streaming one week before the release date, which forced fans to make a hard decision whether to succomb to temptation or wait for the physical release. I made a poll on Twitter, 25 % of fans waited. Now, that’s what I call resolve! Of course, I was not one of them, let’s be realistic.

THEMES

‘Dark Sky Island’ was named after the island of Sark that was the first island designated as a dark sky area. As there is no light pollution on the island (and no cars!), the locals and visitors can observe the night sky without any distractions. ‘Dark Sky Island’ was also the first song written for the album.

This album has a theme of journeys. Journeys to the island; through the length of a lifetime; through history, through emotions; and journeys across great oceans. So although it’s not a ‘themed’ album, as such, we nevertheless have an underlying connection between songs.ENYA, DARK SKY ISLAND PRESS RELEASE, 2015

VISUALS

Album artwork

Design and art direction for the album were done by Stylorouge who have taken care of all Enya artwork since ‘A Day without Rain’ (apart from the ‘Amarantine’ album booklet). All photos are in hues of blue and violet to keep with the dark sky theme.

TRACKLISTINGS

Standard edition

01	The Humming	3:42	English
02	So I Could Find My Way	4:25	English
03	Even in the Shadows	4:13	English
04	The Forge of the Angels	5:12	Loxian
05	Echoes in Rain	3:33	English
06	I Could Never Say Goodbye	3:28	English
07	Dark Sky Island	4:56	English
08	Sancta Maria	3:50	–
09	Astra et Luna	3:20	Latin
10	The Loxian Gates	3:33	Loxian
11	Diamonds on the Water	3:33	English

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

12	Solace	3:56	English
13	Pale Grass Blue	3:33	English
14	Remember Your Smile	2:57	English