All My CDs, pt 37: The Memory of Trees

The Memory of Trees - Enya

A few years ago I was at a yard sale, and while I was getting some other items I noticed a box of CDs marked as $.50 each. Enya's The Memory of Trees was the only one I thought worth getting, and since fifty cents would hardly set me back, I just added it to my pile. I don't remember ever putting it on until now, though.

I don't listen to Enya very often, although I've owned a few of her albums over the years (I only own one right now.) I realized, while listening to The Memory of Trees, that it's for much the same reason that I don't often listen to soundtracks. Ambient music, though pleasant, doesn't attract enough of my attention to stay on my mind and therefore in my player once the novelty has worn off. If music has meaningful lyrics, or a catchy tune, or awe-inspiring grandeur of sound, I am liable occasionally to be "in the mood" for it... rather than the music being little more than a mood itself.

I cannot deny the value of this album as a mood-enhancer. The calmness it exudes makes it perfect for situations like massages or bubble baths. It is less effective at motivating chores, workouts or other more active endeavors. If I listen while driving, I drive ten below the limit. And when people impatiently drive over the yellow lines to pass me, I don't even flinch from my fugue of inner calm.

But although Enya's music is mostly of that ambient, nearly soporific type, a few of her songs have enough of a tune and notable lyrics to stay in my head longer than their own run time. Orinoco Flow and Only Time are examples,  but they are not on this album. Instead there's --, which isn't as catchy as either, but attempts to be. I think its stilted rhyming puts me off a little, as well as its overfocus on lyrics when Enya's voice has a tendency to be indistinct (a strength rather than a weakness for the more ambient tracks). The instrumental -- is more to my liking, with a cheerful, bubbly sound probably achieved electronically.

I needed some low-stress albums like Driving Blind and this one, because I'll be ending my first shelf of CDs with a few by Evanescence. After that, there will be a short break before I begin the second shelf.

Next: Fallen