Dark Sky Island

   Wooo Hoooo! One of my favorite musical artists has just released her latest album today. Of course I'm talking about Enya and her album, Dark Sky Island. I was able to pre-order one song about two weeks ago from I-tunes, and there was a teaser video put out by the Enya web site that you could get on to both view and listen to the songs available. I've already ordered five of them, and depending on what happens, I may order more.Something that just came out today as part of the promo package is a video of Enya singing Echoes in Rain from this album. She's accompanied by an all female orchestra, and it's quite pleasant to view. Prior to the introduction of the I Pod, if a person wanted to hear a particular artist, they had to order the whole album and listen to songs they may or may not enjoy in order to hear the ones that they really care for. Back when I was growing up, individual songs were available in vinyl records the played at 45 RPM's. Entire albums were also available that played at 33 RPM's. As mentioned, when you ordered the album, you usually got songs that were not your cup of tea. Much like when I was a kid. My mom would buy boxes of candy called Bridge Mix. Inside were chocolate covered goodies of assorted shapes, sizes and flavors. I had a particular fondness for the chocolate covered peanuts, which I always honed in on. Occasionally, I would accidentally grab a raisin instead. At the time, my tastes weren't so well defined and I would spit them out. As all the peanuts disappeared, I would resort to eating the other candies. Some were OK, but many of them had questionable fillings, no doubt made to discourage young children from partaking in candies that were meant for adults, hence the name Bridge Mix. I used to bite the candies in half, and if a white or pink filling was inside, I would spit them out and return them to the box. Of course I got in big trouble for such behavior, but how else could you tell if the candy was any good or not? As mentioned, in the realm of music, the good folks at Apple took care of that, so now we can order individual songs of our favorite artists. Anyway, back to Enya. Until the release of Dark Sky Island today, her most recent album was a Christmas one titled, And Winter Came. What a great title! If you're sick of Jingle Bell Rock and Santa's Coming to Town, and all the conventional Christmas songs that start playing just after Halloween, you might check that one out. In typical Enya style, it captures the mood of the holiday without the usual sounds associated with the season.
   For those who might be wondering, Enya used to sing with members of her family in the Irish group Clannad. Her sister is Maire Brennan, whose voice rings out in several movie soundtracks including Last of the Mohicans and Circle of Friends. Enya is unmarried. She mentioned in an interview that she puts so much time and effort into her music, that at the end of the day she didn't feel like she would have the energy to devote to a relationship and it would be unfair to her partner to subject them to that. If memory serves me correctly, she lives in a castle, I believe in Ireland. It's a little unconventional, but then, what would you expect from such a person who has been blessed with such talent? In any event, I hope that you'll check out her web site or I tunes and listen to a few songs. If you've never heard her before, you may discover a whole new venue that you might enjoy. Good listening.