Amarantine

1	Less Than a Pearl 3:44
2	Amarantine 3:12
3	It's in the Rain 4:08
4	If I Could Be Where You Are 4:00
5	The River Sings 2:49
6	Long, Long Journey 3:17
7	Sumiregusa 4:42
8	Someone Said Goodbye 4:02
9	A Moment Lost 3:08
10	Drifting 4:11
11	Amid the Falling Snow 3:38
12	Water Shows the Hidden Heart 4:39

Barnes & Noble

It's been five years since Enya last emerged from the studio with a new album -- a huge span in the realm of pop culture, but a mere blip in the seemingly changeless sonic universe ruled by the Irish singer. In some ways, Amaratine picks up the thread Enya left dangling with A Day Without Rain -- the misty perspectives, the cocooning vocal layers -- but she does expand the palette. For one thing, she's moved away from singing in her native Gaelic, largely concentrating on English-language material but also roving into Japanese (on the breathless "Sumiregusa") and an invented tongue she's dubbed Loxian. The three songs in the latter language -- which longtime lyricist Rona Ryan adapted from Tolkien's Elvish dialect -- are perhaps the disc's most hypnotic, in part because listeners are left with little choice but to drift along and accept Enya's vocal lines as just another instrument (albeit a gorgeous one). She makes the most of that venture on the appropriately titled "Drifting," which builds to peaks suited to a Gothic cathedral, but most intriguing is the album's overall restraint, which is particularly palpable on folk-like songs such as "It's in the Rain," a brisk tune that's reminiscent of Enya's work with Clannad all those years ago. Then again, this is Enya's world, where time melts away with the merest breath -- a source of delight, no doubt, to its many visitors. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Second only to U2 as the most successful Irish recording artist of all time, Enya has built an empire out of multi-tracking her beautiful voice over the same keyboard patches that appeared on her post-Clannad debut since 1987. It's an empire that has progressed at a slow burn, peaking in 2000 and 2001 with her chart-topping ballad and unofficial post-September 11th anthem, "Only Time." Amarantine, Enya's first full-length album in five years, builds on her reputation as the world's premier purveyor of audio comfort food, providing another collection of mini-soundtracks that are often as awkward in their earnestness as they are breathtaking in their production. Boasting 12 new songs that retain the tapestry of sound that is her trademark, while stealthily stripping it of some of its excess, Enya has managed to both repeat herself and move forward without losing anything in the translation. Besides the swirling, "Ebudae"-esque "The River Sings," Enya, lyricist Roma Ryan, and producer Nicky Ryan have crafted the most subtle record of their careers, a move that may alienate some Watermark-era purists. Standout tracks like "Long, Long Journey," "Water Shows the Hidden Heart," and the gorgeous -- but lyrically embarrassing -- title cut show a newfound understanding of the simple power of Enya's voice, resulting in an intimacy that's eluded previous releases. While Amarantine will do nothing to win over the wrongly pegged new age artist's many detractors, longtime fans will find enough moments of serendipitous pleasure to hold them over for another five years. Reverend Lee Power