You can take for granted a few things in any Enya song: the instruments will sound canned, everything will be drenched in reverb, and her voice, multitracked to oblivion, will steal the show. It is her biggest asset and the central nerve from which each of her songs emanates. What you can't take for granted of any Enya song is that it will be good. Within her body of work—seven albums—there are some good tracks and a number of bad ones that are contrived and lifeless; but a few are truly great songs that cross over from corny New Age into the realm of heady pop, soft rock, and experimental balladry.
We hear the DNA of these songs today in the work of Panda Bear, Gang Gang Dance, M83, Grimes, and even Nicki Minaj, who revealed in an interview recently that several songs from her new album The Pinkprint are heavily influenced by the New Age queen. It is those spacious, reverb-and-delay-heavy productions, with the human voice firmly center stage, that give us the sail away chills, and send us somewhere else entirely.
Here are five Enya tracks that stand out from the pack:
"Ebudae"
With a simple thumping bassy beat and a stack of Enya voices, one of her most experimental songs teases us with its under 2 minute runtime and seriously saccharine vocal somersaults. A song like "Ebudae" makes clear why Panda Bear thanked Enya—amongst other influential artists—in the liner notes of his 2007 album, Person Pitch: the Animal Collective co-frontman uses his voice and effects in very similar ways.
"Exile"
A rare track in which Enya’s voice is not overdubbed. The song starts out in minor, burly synths nearly breaking her delicate, wavering vocal line, until the chorus erupts into a sunny major key; the panpipe bridge will break your heart.
"Lazy Days"
One of Enya’s best songs from her later material, "Lazy Days"' lyrics are, like, peak inanity: "Lazy old day/ rolling away/ dreaming the day away/ don’t want to go/ now that I’m in the flow/ crazy amazing day." But there's an exuberance that shines through, and it’s hard not to get swept up in it.
"Cursum Perficio"
Enya’s take on Carmina Burana, this dark piece feels like the initiation rite into a cult that worships thunderstorms.
"Orinoco Flow"
This song is big. The Enya track that everyone knows still has a catchy-as-hell chorus, and otherworldly pizzicato plucks, drenched in reverb, that cinematically bowl us over. Her litany of places to sail away to conjures exotic images far away from Enya’s Ireland, and far, far away from that hot family car trip where I first heard this song.