Surely, then, most, if not all, of you are familiar with Enya--this from her long and consistent history of putting out what can only be considered, at the very least, thoroughly charming and, every so often, on one of her better days, gorgeously haunting New Age music. If you've been in a book store, coffee shop, or spa at any point in the last 15 years, chances are you've almost certainly heard (front to back) Enya's "Watermark" and/or "Shepherd Moons" (both exceptional albums, though I find I prefer the former ever-so-slightly over the latter, with my aforementioned "gorgeously haunting" tag applying to tracks 3, 5, and 8 of said album, respectively...). Recently, Enya (in keeping with her habit of putting out one album approximately every five years) released her latest, "Amarantine"--and, despite my assumption that, at this point, she must have quite obviously backed herself into a corner, with little if any room for her to maneuver, artistically, I'm actually finding, now that I've sat with the work for the past two weeks or so, that indeed, it's not only a fantastic album, it's probably the best thing she's done since "Watermark" kicked off her very career.
So yes, why all the flag waving then? Why bring this up when Depeche Mode also recently (a few months back) released their best work in 15 years and, yet, I found nary a reason to mention that here? Well because, dear Readers, our very own Polina actually SANG WITH ENYA on "Live with Regis and Kelly" last Thursday...! Quite the rarity, apparently, for Enya to actually leave her castle (yes, she really lives in one, though she claims it's much more of a homey castle, and not one of those drafty constructions from way back in the day...) for an honest-to-God actual live performance (the nature of the music, for those familiar with her work, does, very obviously, not lend itself to a live concert setting, what with the extremely high production standards, overdubbing, and so on). But, leave her castle she did, and Polina had the chance to don the traditional Chorus Singer Black Dress and, after a solid week's worth of rehearsals, belt out a few gorgeous "Oohs" and "Aahs" with the very Queen of "Oohs" and "Aahs". Bravo!!
(Above: a screen capture of Polina singing with Enya on "Live with Regis and Kelly" on Thursday, January 26, 2006. Polina stands third from the left.)
