"Sumiregusa (Wild Violet)" is sung in Japanese, and its opening bars are taken from an arrangement of the hymn "Hark! The Vesper Hymn Is Stealing" by the Irish composer John Andrew Stevenson. Īmarantine features Enya singing in two new languages for the first time. According to Roma, "Amid Falling Snow" is inspired by a child or a person's amazement of seeing snowfall for the first time, and Christmas time in general. "Drifting" is an instrumental that developed from a piano melody, typical of Enya's other instrumental tracks. "A Moment Lost" addressed two ideas: the regretful feeling of words spoken at times of anger by a loved one that leave a mark on one's heart, and a song of love that in turn heals it and forgives. The theme of sadness is revisited on "Someone Said Goodbye", a song about one reflecting on life, which at times may bring on sad feelings. The lyrics to "Sumiregusa" are inspired by hokku, the opening stanza to the Japanese form of poetry renga and renku, written by the poet Matsuo Bashō who once felt his heart leap "at the sight of a wild violet". The idea of returning home after a long journey is what "Long Long Journey" was written about, and is a theme Enya has covered across her career.
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In her notes about the song, Roma wrote the track is "a song of sadness", adding: "for how else can one describe such sorrow? Not knowing where a loved one is, not knowing how they are, not knowing how to find them". Roma had used the word in "Flora's Secret" on A Day Without Rain, which in its lyric was spelled "amaranthine". " Amarantine" is a love song, of which its title is a word that Enya said addresses the idea of everlasting and love. The album was Enya's first of her career not to include a song sung in Gaelic, her first language.
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The album was dedicated to BBC producer Tony McAuley, who commissioned Enya to compose the soundtrack to the 1987 BBC documentary series The Celts which was subsequently released as her debut album, Enya (1987). Enya adopted a five-day working schedule to work on the album, working from 10 a.m. Recording took place at Aigle Studio, a facility installed at the Ryan's home in Killiney, County Dublin in Ireland. She worked with her longtime recording partners, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. She resumed in September 2003 to start work on Amarantine, her first studio album since her commercially successful 2000 release, A Day Without Rain. Īfter the release of her box set Only Time – The Collection in November 2002, Enya took several months off from writing, recording, and releasing music. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it was the third top selling new age album of the 2000s in the United States. In 2007, the album won Enya her fourth Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. To promote the album, Enya did several interviews and televised performances, including the 2006 World Music Awards. A Christmas Special Edition was released on the album's one year anniversary. Enya released two singles from the album, " Amarantine" and " It's in the Rain". 6 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, where it sold one million copies in its first month of release, and No. It is Enya's first album not to include a song in Irish and her first to include songs sung in Japanese and Loxian, a fictional language created by Roma.Īmarantine received mixed reviews from critics, but it was a commercial success and reached No. Amarantine was recorded in Ireland with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Following the release of her 2002 compilation box set Only Time – The Collection, Enya took a short break before she started work on a new album in September 2003, her first since A Day Without Rain (2000). Records internationally and by Reprise Records in the United States the next day. Amarantine is the sixth studio album by Irish singer-songwriter and musician Enya, released on 21 November 2005 by Warner Bros.