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Of the opening instrumental title tracks, "The Memory Of Trees" is the most potent, sporting the usual instrumentals, pianos, haunting wall-of-sound choir-like vocals, pounding drums recalling "The Longships" from Watermark.

The brisk "Anywhere Is", whose dominant tempo reminds me of a horse having a gentle canter down a park, is backed by strings and backing vocals. There's an interesting motif in the first line of her reaching a horizon but finding another, where something that looks like an end is actually a new beginning. Bit like life, isn't it?

"Pax Deorum" is a Latin track begins with a cold dark wind, which sets the grim bass pulsing keyboard permeating throughout the song, as well as an ominous sound that sounds a bit like a foghorn, though not as loud or brash. This part sounds a bit like an incantation. Her voice alternates between a soft but lower register and her full vocals.

The piano (and later some other instrument) ballad "Athair Ar Neamh" is a sad but beautiful sung tune, full of yearning. Makes me want to learn Gaelic. My favourite song here, and Enya sounds her best singing like this.

The wistful, reflective piano only instrumental "From Where I Am" is a variation of "Miss Clare Remembers" from Watermark, with some shades of "Epona" from the Enya album.

"China Roses" is one of her visual and visionary poetic songs and it's an enchanting delight to hear. I see melodic strains of what would later become "Only Time." That wall of sound really enhances her vocals, and the following lyrics really create the image of a dreamland: "A new moon leads me to/woods of dreams and I follow/a new world waits for me/my dream, my way" and "Rain and river, a world of wonder/may be paradise to me". Gosh, how I love this woman!

OK, all you romantics. "Hope Has A Place" is the song for you. Enya's vocal echoes hauntingly here and that dreamy wall of sound is in full bloom. And how's this for some sagely advice: "Look to love/you may dream/and if it should leave/then give it wings/But if such a love is meant to be/Hope is home, and the heart is free." I can't decide whether I like this better than "Athair Ar Neamh."

The third instrumental, "Tea-House Moon", has some Oriental strains, with some otherworldly synths and conjures the image of one looking up at the stars. As for the title, a nod to Teahouse Of The August Moon, set in post-WW2 Japan and starring Machiko Kyo?

"Once You Had Gold" is a proverbial seasons come, seasons go type, and has a mystical sense of why things go wrong: "No-one can promise a dream for you/Time gave both darkness and dreams to you." and "What is the dark, shadows around you/why not take heart in the new day?"

"La Sonadora" is her first Spanish song and it's more an interlude. The backing wall of music rise to a crescendo in the song's midsection.

A reminiscing night traveller's thoughts comprise "On My Way Home", where "I remember all the best days/I'm on my way home/I can remember every new day" is surrounded by the dreamy wall of sound.

Compared to her first three albums, Enya's voice is more mesmerizingly beautiful than I've ever heard. She seems to be a one-woman band here, as it's "all instruments and vocals by Enya" per the credits. There's more a wall of dreamy sound here--check out how many times I've mentioned this. Repeated listenings will tell whether it'll dislodge Shepherd's Moon as my favourite Enya album.


A Brilliant Change in Atmosphere!   October 14, 1999
 30 out of 32 found this review helpful

All of Enya's past albums have all been very solemn CDs, with songs that capture very peaceful moods. I've loved all of them, but THIS is one heck of a great change! It still holds Enya's theme of peace and a world in fantasy where everything's practically what it should be, or even better, but kinda jolts the listener with a more vibrant tone and, not to mention, RHYTHM! I enjoy ALL the tracks on this album (which has proved quite amazing considering my high standards for an avid fan of Enya's), and I'd practically WANT everyone to have a go at it! Listen out, especially, for "Anywhere Is (absolutely WONDERFUL)", "Tea-House Moon (a solemn yet catchy instrumental recital)", "Pax Deorum (kinda gives you an eerie feeling, nonetheless it gets Enya's message across)" and, most of all, "On My Way Home". On "Paint the Sky with Stars", you can only catch the shortened 3-minute version of this song; catch the original, full-length 5-minute version on this CD (that would make this song her second longest, down from "Smoainte" from 1991's "Shepard Moons"). It includes more instrumentation in a never-before-caught song bridge; and more life in its chorus. Enya has boasted great skill in producing this album, especially in writing the latter track - definitely something to look out for for EVERYONE and not just Enya fans!


A BRILLIANT Change In Atmosphere!   December 26, 1999
 15 out of 17 found this review helpful

All of Enya's past albums have all been very solemn CDs, with songs that capture very peaceful moods. I've loved all of them, but THIS is one heck of a great change! It still holds Enya's theme of peace and a world in fantasy where everything's practically what it should be, or even better, but kinda jolts the listener with a more vibrant tone and, not to mention, RHYTHM! I enjoy ALL the tracks on this album (which has proved quite amazing considering my high standards for an avid fan of Enya's), and I'd practically WANT everyone to have a go at it! Listen out, especially, for "Anywhere Is (absolutely WONDERFUL)", "Tea-House Moon (a solemn yet catchy instrumental recital)", "Pax Deorum (kinda gives you an eerie feeling, nonetheless it gets Enya's message across)" and, most of all, "On My Way Home". On "Paint the Sky with Stars", you can only catch the shortened 3-minute version of this song; catch the original, full-length 5-minute version on this CD (that would make this song her second longest, down from "Smoainte" from 1991's "Shepard Moons"). It includes more instrumentation in a never-before-caught song bridge; and more life in its chorus. Enya has boasted great skill in producing this album, especially in writing the latter track - definitely something to look out for for EVERYONE and not just Enya fans!


Beautiful   February 15, 2005
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

The problem with Enya is that she is so consistently good. It is difficult to write a review that says something different from previous reviews (having recently reviewed "A Day without Rain" and previously "Watermark"). The same words, ethereal, ephemeral, airy, haunting, and spiritual apply to each album. The only risk is that my reviews become boring, because Enya could never be.

This CD begins with the instrumental track "Memory of Trees." While "Memory of Trees" is nominally an instrumental, there are voices that punctuate portions of the music. This opening feels optimistic, though the title feels as though it is vaguely related to forests and lands gone by. The vocals provide a chorale sound that builds and cascades around you with the feeling of great trees and landscapes greater than any of the puny works of mankind. Great beasts wander about and smaller beasts enter and exit the brush at the edges of clearings in the great forest in a celebration of nature.

The pace speeds up in the peppy "Anywhere Is." The lyrics are poetic and symbolic and are a mirror maze of mental images. As is frequently typical of Enya the lyrics seem to make sense until you attempt to understand them and then their meaning escapes your grasp. In this case the song seems to be describing the paths we take in life and the choices that we make, and whether they can be unmade, and even whether the choices take us to or from the one we love. Another unusual feature of this song is the predominant instruments which compete for attention with Enya's voice. Typically Enya's voice stands out clearly from the instruments, which in this case are mostly strings and piano.

"Pax Deorum" is somewhat ominous, and fits with the following song, "Athair Ar Neamh." Both songs are simple songs that relate to God. "Pax Deorum" translates roughly as "The Peace of the Gods," or seeking to placate the gods. "Athair Ar Neamh" translates approximately as "Father in Heaven." Note that the title of the latter song appears as a line in the former song, tying both songs together, and placing an Irish Gaelic line into a Latin song. There are moments of choral lightness in the otherwise ominous "Pax Deorum," which I believe has appeared as the background music for a commercial. The latter song is more contemplative and ethereal and Enya allows the beauty of her voice to caress and harmonize the Irish Gaelic verses.

"From Where I Am" is a relatively sedate instrumental that forms a brief piano interlude leading into "China Roses." This song manages to capture the wonder of the universe and the beauty of heaven all in one song. This song transcends the poetic to the surrealistic both lyrically and vocally. Once again Enya allows her voice to be a beautiful instrument to complement the strings and piano to create a work of aural art.

"Hope Has a Place" is the first song where the lyrics are relatively easy to understand. The concept is simple: there is always hope where there is love. The vocals are beautiful (again) and may remind a listener of the song Enya wrote for "The Lord of the Rings." This song is for romantics and candle-lit dinners everywhere.

Another instrumental interlude follows. "Tea-House Moon" has some of the most interesting instrumental effects on this CD. The mood is contemplative and traditional, though with a vaguely Asian flavor. This instrumental is the music for a heavenly choreography.

The next song changes style, again, and yet fits within the character of the album. "Once You Had Gold" seems to allude to the transitory nature of all things, perhaps most particularly life. There are lines that seem to say that things come and things go, and you need to accept the joys that you can get just from being here to greet the new day. I particularly like the last line which says that there are no promises in life, that there is good and bad and that one must make the best of any situation. The song is sung in a fairy tale style, a cautionary tale young and old.

The next song translates as "The Dreamer." The music tells you all you need to know about the words, which are surrealistic and, of course, dream-like. The ephemeral lyrics and music bespeaks an atmosphere, a feeling, a place that can only exist in our dreams, though we might wish otherwise. This song nearly achieves allowing us to be a creation of our imagination.

At last we must awaken from the fantasy Enya has woven for us. "On My Way Home" returns us to this place and time, but with a longing for the place we leave, the poetry that has been woven for us. Yet, we rejoice for we return to a place of familiarity, and still, there is the memory, yes indeed, "The Memory of Trees."



Enya's low water mark   November 12, 2001
 8 out of 15 found this review helpful

To my mind, TMOT represents Enya's low water mark (excuse the pun). This was the CD that wrested me away from full devotion to her work. Not that the CD is bad. By other artists' standards this is definitely above average. But for Enya, it is simply a retread. Repackaging of previous musical ideas. Little in the way of innovation.

I find in reading reviews of her music that reviews fall into several categories. The lemming reviews, are those by devotees who blindly accept any of her offerings with equal fervor. The musical snobs, who castigate her work as being unsophisticated and trite. The newbies, who are hearing Enya's work for the first time and think the latest (their first exposure to Enya) is the be-all, end-all. And then there's me, the nostalgic, offering what I feel is an objective take on how a CD ranks in an artist's overall repertoire. That said, Watermark is pure genius, the best album of the last twenty-five years. Shepherd Moons is also brilliant, though inevitably a notch below its peerless predecessor. TMOT continues the slide, dipping into mediocrity, territory that Enya had never before chartered. On account of the disappointment I had with TMOT, I still haven't shelled out for her latest CD, ADWR, but I'm sure my curiosity will win out.