Dark Sky Island

Dark Sky Island
Studio album by Enya
Released	20 November 2015
Recorded	2012–2015
Studio	Aigle Studios, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland
Genre	New age Celtic
Length	43:47 54:36 (Deluxe edition)
Label	Aigle Music Warner Music (UK) Warner Bros. (US)
Producer	Nicky Ryan
Enya chronology
And Winter Came... (2008)And Winter Came...2008 Dark Sky Island (2015)
Singles from Dark Sky Island
"Echoes in Rain" Released: 9 October 2015

Dark Sky Island is the eighth studio album from the Irish musician Enya, released on 20 November 2015 on Aigle Music and distributed through Warner Music Group worldwide and Warner Bros. Records in the United States. Following the release of And Winter Came … (2008), Enya took an extended break from writing and recording. She returned to the studio in 2012 to record Dark Sky Island with her long-time lyricist Roma Ryan and producer Nicky Ryan. Enya performs all the vocals and instruments on the album, apart from Eddie Lee who plays the double bass on "Even in the Shadows".

Dark Sky Island received a mostly positive reception from critics and was a commercial success upon release. It peaked at No. 4 in the UK, Enya's highest charting album there since Shepherd Moons (1991), No. 8 in the US, and within the top ten in fourteen countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and New Zealand, among others major music markets. A Deluxe Edition includes three extra tracks, and an LP edition was released on 18 December 2015, her first LP since the 1992 reissue of her debut album, Enya (1987). To promote the album, Enya made several television appearances, interviews and performances, including the 2016 ECHO Award.

Production

Background

The island of Sark, which the album's title is named after.

Following the release of And Winter Came... (2008), Enya took an extended break from writing and recording and spent time away from Ireland to travel and purchase a home in the south of France. Aigle Studios, her usual recording studio in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin in Ireland, was also renovated in 2011 which delayed plans to resume work on a new studio album.

In 2012, Enya returned to the studio to record Dark Sky Island, her eighth overall, with her long-time lyricist Roma Ryan and producer Nicky Ryan. The album's title was inspired by the designation of the island of Sark as the world's first "dark sky island" and a series of poetry books on islands from Roma Ryan. The album's title track was the first song to be written for the album. Enya described the album as having a "theme of journeys" but is not a concept album like the winter-themed And Winter Came... was. She spoke of the album: "journeys to the island; through a length of a lifetime; throughout history; throughout emotions; and through journeys across great oceans".

Songs

"The Humming..." is a song "that muses on the cycle of the universe and how change affects everything". According to Nicky Ryan, the track originated as a short melody that Enya began to hum. He added, "The title refers to the sound of the early universe which is at around forty-seven octaves below the lowest piano key". Nicky revealed that scientific work on compression and pitching the vibration to be audible to humans, "picked up by the Planck space telescope", turned the sound into a humming, giving the song a fitting title. "So I Could Find My Way" is set in waltz time and composed in the key of D major. Enya described the melody as "very emotional". The song is dedicated to Nicky Ryan's deceased mother Mona and its subject of "a mother moving on" is "something quite universal ... You think about what she left behind in your life. That's what you'll always remember. What her stories were, what she was hoping for you; hoping you'd find your way". "Even in the Shadows" features a double bass played by Irish rock and jazz musician Eddie Lee. Lee is a member of Those Nervous Animals from Sligo, Ireland who were label mates, under the Tara Music label, of the Brennan family band Clannad in the early 1980s; Enya was a member of Clannad from 1980 to 1982.

There are two songs in the album that featuring lyrics in Loxian, a language created by Roma Ryan, for the first time since Amarantine (2005). These songs in particular focus on the "intergalactic theme" and otherworldly and futuristic tales Roma Ryan uses Loxian for, along with the non-Loxian "Astra et Luna". "Echoes In Rain" is in a minor scale, specifically F-sharp minor, and has a "marching rhythm celebrating a journey's end". The song includes a piano-based bridge, similar to Enya's solo piano tracks on her earlier albums. Enya's vocals span two octaves from B2 to E5. The lyrics describe the feelings of a long journey home, travelling through night and through day, with the verses detailing how the surroundings and emotions change throughout the journey. "I Could Never Say Goodbye" is a Irish lament with "a sparse, hymnal arrangement". "Sancta Maria" blends synthesizers and classical instrumentation.

Release

Promotion

The album was announced by Enya on her website in September 2015. The title, first single and track listing were announced on 7 October 2015. Along with standard and deluxe editions on digital formats, a vinyl edition was made available, making Dark Sky Island Enya's first vinyl release since her self-titled album's re-release in 1992.

In the weeks preceding Dark Sky Island's release, Enya's various official social media accounts posted interviews with Enya and her lyricist Roma Ryan, previews for the album, exclusive photos and 'behind the scenes' moments, lyric and regular music videos, and information on iTunes' exclusive early releases of the album's songs. This is the first use of social media to promote Enya's music as well as using it for giving fans exclusive, official information and content. Embarking upon the promotional trip for Dark Sky Island, Enya herself initially promoted the album in the British Isles, being interviewed for The Irish Times, before guesting on ITV's Lorraine on and BBC Radio 4's BBC Front Row on 19 November 2015, and on other major radio shows like The Chris Evans Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 and Gerry Kelly's show on BBC Radio Ulster upon the album's release day. She then promoted the album worldwide, promoting with interviews in Japan and the US on news and morning television. On 13 December 2015, Enya gave a surprise performance at the Universal Studios Japan Christmas Show in Osaka, Japan, of two songs- "Orinoco Flow" and "Echoes In Rain". She called it a 'surprise gift' to the Japanese fans, and complimented the 'spectacular' celebrations of that day. On 18 January 2016, Enya was interviewed by Russell Davies on BBC Radio 2's The Art of Artists. On 2 March 2016, Enya was interviewed by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2's Simon Mayo Drivetime after guesting on ITV's This Morning. To promote the album in the United States, Enya performed "Echoes in Rain" on Live! with Kelly and Michael, "Even in the Shadows" on Good Day New York and was interviewed on HuffPost Live. On 7 April 2016, Enya performed "Echoes in Rain" on 2016 ECHO Award.

Release

Dark Sky Island was released on CD and as a digital download on 20 November 2015. It was released on LP on 18 December 2015.

Two promotional singles from the album were released. "So I Could Find My Way" was released digitally on 30 October 2015. Its music video, released on 6 November, features Enya performing in the Chapel Royal Church in Dublin with a female string ensemble and choir. "The Humming..." was released digitally on 13 November with an accompanying lyric video released the same day.

Dark Sky Island entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 4, Enya's highest charting album there since Shepherd Moons (1991). In the United States, Dark Sky Island debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, with 48,000 equivalent album units; it sold 46,000 copies in its first week of release. By January 2016, the album had sold 136,000 copies in the United States.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	78/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Evening Standard
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Guardian
The Irish Times
Música Nueva
Newsday	B+
Pitchfork

Dark Sky Island received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 8 reviews. In his review for AllMusic, Timothy Monger rated the album four stars out of five. He wrote the album "has all the thematic and sonic hallmarks typical of an Enya release but with significantly more highlights than on her two prior works" and highlights "The Humming" as "one of the strongest tracks she's produced in decades and resembles a dark cousin to 1991's masterwork 'Caribbean Blue'". He summarised the album "does manage to harness some of the power and creativity of Enya's early days and pairs it with both the confidence and shadows of age". In the Evening Standard, John Aizlewood gives the album the same rating, summarising with "magnificent in every sense" with "songs built up with layer upon layer of vocals ... layer upon layer of instrumentation and layer upon layer of luxurious, uplifting, undeniably spiritual warmth".

Siobhan Kane of The Irish Times rated the album four stars out of five, praising Enya's vocal power "that manages to be both frail and strong" on "So I Could Find My Way", and summarised the album as "nourishing and immersive". Brad Nelson in his review for Pitchfork, likened the album to "being embraced by air" and said with "some confidence" that Dark Sky Island was Enya's best album since The Memory of Trees (1995), released almost twenty years prior; he gave a positive review and score of 7.1 out of 10. He praised Enya for "drifting somewhat from her aesthetic" and highlighted "Even in the Shadows" as a prime example and consequently called it "one of the best on the album".

Track listing

All lyrics written by Roma Ryan, all music composed by Enya and all songs produced by Nicky Ryan. All instruments (except double bass on "Even in the Shadows") and vocals performed by Enya.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Humming..."	3:42
2.	"So I Could Find My Way"	4:25
3.	"Even in the Shadows"	4:13
4.	"The Forge of the Angels"	5:12
5.	"Echoes in Rain"	3:33
6.	"I Could Never Say Goodbye"	3:28
7.	"Dark Sky Island"	4:56
8.	"Sancta Maria"	3:50
9.	"Astra et Luna"	3:20
10.	"The Loxian Gates"	3:33
11.	"Diamonds on the Water"	3:33

Deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Solace"	3:56
13.	"Pale Grass Blue"	3:33
14.	"Remember Your Smile"	2:57

Personnel

• Enya – vocals, instrumentation, mixer

Additional musicians

• Eddie Lee – double bass on "Even in the Shadows"

Production

• Roma Ryan – lyrics, Loxian language, font
• Nicky Ryan – arrangement, engineer, mixer, album sleeve conception
• Dick Beetham – mastering at 360 Mastering in Hastings
• Daniel Polley – digital advisor, technician
• Simon Fowler – album sleeve conception, photography
• Richard Welland – booklet layout
• Michael Whitham – commissioner

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2015–16)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	8
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	3
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	3
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	6
Croatian Albums (Toplista)	16
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)	6
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)	21
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)	5
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)	23
French Albums (SNEP)	31
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	3
Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)	66
Hungarian Albums (Mahasz)	4
Irish Albums (IRMA)	7
Italian Albums (FIMI)	8
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	17
Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)	55
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	8
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)	13
Polish Albums (ZPAV)	14
Portuguese Albums (AFP)	13
Russian Albums (2M)	5
Scottish Albums (OCC)	7
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	12
South African Albums (RISA)	20
South Korean Albums (Gaon)	23
South Korean Albums International (Gaon)	3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)	22
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	2
Taiwanese Albums (Five Music)	3
UK Albums (OCC)	4
US Billboard 200	8

• The album also peaked at number-one on the Billboard Top New Age Albums chart for twenty five nonconsecutive weeks total with ten consecutive weeks since the first day of release. On 20 February 2016, it was succeeded by Yanni's 2016 album Sensuous Chill for one week.

Year-end charts

Chart (2015)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	50
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	48
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	59
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)	20
German Albums (Official Top 100)	36
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)	15
Italian Albums (FIMI)	99
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	63
UK Albums (OCC)	29

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)	Gold	35,000
Belgium (BEA)	Gold	15,000
Canada (Music Canada)	Gold	40,000
Germany (BVMI)	Gold	100,000
Hungary (MAHASZ)	Platinum	2,000
Japan		43,696
New Zealand (RMNZ)	Gold	7,500
Sweden (GLF)	Gold	20,000
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)	Gold	10,000
South Korea		925
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	100,000
United States		136,000
Summaries
Worldwide		929,000
*sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
Worldwide	20 November 2015	CD digital download	Aigle Music Warner Bros. Warner Music
	18 December 2015	LP