Watermark by Enya

Watermark is Enya's 1988 breakthrough, the album that brought her layered, multitracked voice to the wider world. I came to it long after its release, drawn in by the famous single and then held by the quiet around it. It is a record built from patience, voices stacked into something that sounds like weather.

Why listen?

The sound is unmistakable, a single voice layered into a whole choir over soft keyboards and Celtic colour. The production is meticulous and unhurried, every part placed with care. There are few words, and several pieces drift in old Irish and Latin, so the feeling carries more than the meaning. There is a deep calm here, music for thinking and resting rather than dancing. It still sounds like almost nothing else.

Favourite song: Orinoco Flow

The hit that everyone knows, and for good reason. It is bright and rolling, a song about setting sail to far-off names and places.

Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Carry me on the waves
To the lands I've never been

The voices stack up into the chorus like waves catching the light, and the lift never gets old. It reminds me of looking out from a high coast path at a sea that seems to have no end. The song turns wanderlust into something gentle, the joy of the going rather than the getting there.

Key takeaway

Watermark is a quiet landmark, a record that made stillness sound new. Worth a calm hour and your full attention.

Tracklist

• Watermark
• Cursum Perficio
• On Your Shore
• Storms in Africa
• Exile
• Miss Clare Remembers
• Orinoco Flow
• Evening Falls...
• River
• The Longships
• Na Laetha Geal M'óige

Details

Listen on

• Apple Music
• Amazon
• Spotify

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