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The rhythm of the poem actually seem to flow with the melody that Enya and Nicky had written and arranged, but we still felt the piece was meant to be an instrumental, so we never adapted the...
Nicky thought a melody Enya had written suited the story, which led to Roma writing a lyric inspired by it. [ 5 ] "River" is an instrumental that was named by Nicky after the music conjured the image of a river in his mind.
The rhythm of the poem actually seem to flow with the melody that Enya and Nicky had written and arranged, but we still felt the piece was meant to be an instrumental, so we never adapted the poem to lyric.
May 9, 2024 · Enya has never publicly stated what specifically inspired her to write “Watermark.” However, it is clear that the song touches on a number of themes and ideas that are important to her, such as the beauty and power of nature, the importance of memory and history, and the inevitability of change.
- Overview
- Tracklist
- Background
- Recording
- Songs
"Watermark" is the second studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on September 19, 1988 by WEA. After the release of her previous album Enya (1987), she secured a recording contract with Warner after a chance meeting with chairman Rob Dickins, who had become a fan of her music. Her contract allowed her considerable artistic and creative freedom, with minimal interference from the label and no deadlines to have albums finished. Enya recorded Watermark in ten months with her longtime collaborators, manager, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. It was initially recorded in Ireland in demo form before production relocated to London to re-record, mix, and master it digitally. Watermark features music in different styles, displaying Enya's sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards, percussion instruments, and elements of Celtic, ambient, and new-age music, though Enya believes her music does not belong in the latter genre.
received many positive reviews from critics and it became an unexpected commercial success, which propelled Enya to worldwide fame. It peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, number twenty-five on the Billboard in the United States, and reached number one in New Zealand and Switzerland. It was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 1.2 million and four million copies across the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. To promote the album, Enya embarked on a worldwide promotional tour which included interviews, appearances, and live performances. Four singles were released from the album, including the international top-ten hit "Orinoco Flow", which spent three weeks at number one in the United Kingdom. Watermark was reissued in 1989, 1991, and 2009; the first two contain "Storms In Africa (Part II)" as a bonus track; the latter was a Japanese release with a second entitled "Morning Glory".
All songs produced by Nicky Ryan, all lyrics by Roma Ryan and all songs performed by Enya.
In March 1987, the 25-year-old Enya released her self-titled debut solo album Enya on BBC Records And Tapes in the United Kingdom and on Atlantic Records in the United States. It was originally produced as the soundtrack to the BBC2 documentary series The Celts, with Enya and her recording partners of five years, manager, arranger and producer Nick...
With the green-light to make a new album, Enya recorded Watermark from June 1987 to April 1988. It was initially recorded in demo form at Aigle Studio, a 16-track facility located in the basement of the Ryans' home, then located in Artane, a northern suburb of Dublin. Nicky operated a Fostex E16 tape machine with KEF and Yamaha NS-10M speakers for monitoring, two Alesis MIDIverb II models, an ATC Q1 for reverb, and a Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay for delay. He made a conscious effort not to incorporate audio compression as he wished to make the music sound satisfactory "at the recording end". Enya wrote and recorded the album without the use of a click track to retain a more natural feel to the music. Enya played a variety of keyboards and synthesisers, including the Yamaha KX88 master keyboard, Yamaha TX802, Oberheim Matrix-6R, Akai S900, Roland D-50, Roland Juno-60 and PPG Wave. The Juno-60 was a particular favourite of hers. Prior to recording the album, she had intended to replace its parts with better sounds but could not find better substitutes, so they were left in. The Roland Juno-60, a favourite keyboard of Enya's that she used on Watermark. In 1989, she said: "We wouldn't part with it for anything in the world".
After a demo version of the album was put down, Dickins requested to have it re-recorded digitally at a more professional studio as the analogue equipment at Aigle had created an abundance of tape hiss, causing the music to suffer. Nicky found the quality of Enya's multi-track vocals had also diminished, leaving them the only option of re-recording them, though he later found the digital recording had lost "warmth in the bottom end". Recording took place at Orinoco Studios in Bermondsey, London and lasted for two months with Ross Cullum who carried out co-production, engineering, and mixing duties. "Storms In Africa" and "Orinoco Flow" were completed on the studio's two Mitsubishi 32-track recording machines. Away from the "intimate and personal" setting of their home studio, Enya found working in London more difficult as the busy city caused many distractions. Nicky said the studio was designed "in a completely mad way", which he and Enya found more attractive to work in. During the final stages of recording, Enya tripped on a step, which resulted in two cuts to her knee. She continued to work, "taking these heavy pain-killers, sitting at the desk, in the studio with one foot propped up on cushions." Cullum completed the majority of the album's mixing at Wessex Sound Studios; Jim Barton was the mixer on "Orinoco Flow".
is formed of eleven tracks, eight of which Enya and Roma are listed on as co-writers. The remaining three are instrumentals solely composed by Enya. She had performed solos as a vocal on Enya, but wanted them played by different instruments on Watermark, and employed additional musicians to play parts that were already written: Neil Buckley plays t...
Sep 21, 2018 · Listening to Watermark in 2018, it is difficult not to long for that sense of optimistic melancholy — or melancholic optimism — that pervaded Enya’s most recognizable work, and more broadly, its...
Nov 1, 2017 · Roma writes lyrics, occasionally in fictional languages, and Nicky crafts Enya's ethereal sound by layering vocal tracks on top of each other and then drenching Enya's synthesized...
