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Enya may take album on road for first time | The Sunday Times
Enya may take album on road for first time
Colin Coyle Published: 22 November 2015
THE chief executive of Enya’s record label has hinted that the musician will tour for the first time, after the release of her latest album. Speaking to the Associated Press (AP) last week, Cameron Strang, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Bros, said Enya herself raised the possibility of performing her new record live.
“The assumption was that she wouldn’t be interested,” he said. “We would love to see her tour. I think that there might be some surprising moments coming for people, which we’re excited about.”
Last week Warner Bros said it had nothing to add to Strang’s comments. In the same interview, Enya said performing was “something I enjoy”. The recently released Dark Sky Island is her eighth album.
“Once I start an album, that’s all I will focus on,” she said. “But as soon as I walk away, which was only recently, you start to think, ‘Is this the album that we finally follow with live performances?’ Because we have such a choice of songs from each album.”
The Killiney-based musician, whose last album was And Winter Came . . . in 2008, said her record company had been keen on her touring in the 1980s, but was unwilling to pay the cost of recreating the music in a live setting, with an orchestra and choir.
She never ruled out touring, but said that her method of writing and recording was time-consuming. Since leaving Clannad, which included members of her family, she has written in conjunction with Nicky Ryan, who produces all her music, and Roma Ryan, who writes most of her lyrics. Enya performs most of the instruments and records vocals, which are then layered to create her signature sound, variously described as “new age” and “Celtic”.
“The way we put an album together is very much a performance feel,” Enya told AP last week. “We’re trying to capture that live performance and that’s why I know it would work on stage, and I would love to perform it.”
The video for the first single from Enya’s latest album, Echoes in Rain, depicts her playing a live show. Filmed in the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle, it shows the singer performing with an all-female string ensemble and choir.
If Enya does tour her new album, there should be no shortage of paying customers. She has sold more than 80m records worldwide, including 26m in America.
On Record, Culture, page 28