And Winter Came…

Recording

After promoting her previous studio album Amarantine (2005), Enya recorded some new material for her fourth extended play Sounds of the Season: The Enya Holiday Collection (2006) that featured a collection of traditional and original Christmas songs. For her next studio album, she decided to continue with the Christmas theme and proceeded to write and record a Christmas album, something that Enya had always wanted to do in her career. The winter time of year is a particular favourite of hers and it is when she does a considerable amount of song writing and experimenting with ideas she gathered over the year. To her, it is a "very reflective and a very calming" time of year. Nicky Ryan revealed one idea of combining the tracks Enya recorded on Sounds of the Season with some new original tracks. However, soon after the project began, the album's direction was changed to songs with a general winter theme as such imagery became a strong focal point in her new compositions. She recorded the album with her longtime collaborators, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan, at Aigle Studio, the name of the home recording studio at the Ryan's home in Killiney, County Dublin in Ireland.

Music and lyrics

The album's opening track, "And Winter Came...", is an instrumental piece which is a reworked version of "Midnight Blue", a song released as a B-side to "Wild Child", the second single from A Day Without Rain (2000). The majority of Enya's albums begin with an instrumental, and she selected the title track as the first because its themes "sets the mood of autumn going into winter". "Journey of the Angels" was written in the style of what Enya described as a "slow traditional carol", with Roma emphasising its religious aspect to it, and chose it as a personal highlight of the album. The song is dedicated to the American director and editor Tim Royes, who produced the music video for Enya's songs "Amarantine" and "It's in the Rain" and died in 2007. For "White Is in the Winter Night", Enya was inspired by the idea of writing a "21st century Christmas carol", and pointed out Roma's descriptive lyrics that describe the various colours associated with Christmas time: "Green is in the mistletoe and red is in the holly ... Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers". The album contains two traditional songs that were rearranged by Enya and Nicky; "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is an Advent Christian hymn that was introduced to Enya during her time in the choir at boarding school and became a longtime favourite of hers and Roma's, which inspired the decision to record it for the album. The song is sung in Latin. Enya described the meaning behind "Trains and Winter Rains": "The song ... is like a dark winter journey and I think everybody has taken this journey where it's time to leave home. It's exciting but because it is the unknown, that's why we wanted to capture the little dark aspects in both the lyric and in the music." Roma compared "Dreams Are More Precious" to a "Christmas lullaby" and revealed its title was derived from the lyric that she wrote for the song.

"Last Time by Moonlight" is a romantic song that developed around the idea of two people who once loved each other have now split, and the reflective time on one's life that could happen around Christmas time. Enya and Roma developed "One Toy Soldier" into a children's song about an old toy soldier with a broken drum that has is a family's heirloom, but despite its age, it is still loved. Roma's initial set of lyrics had the story end with the toy soldier's future unclear on Christmas morning, but she knew Enya would not settle on such an ending, so she changed them accordingly to show the toy soldier was fine. The last track recorded for the album was "My! My! Times Flies", an uptempo song dedicated to the Irish guitarist Jimmy Faulkner, who died in March 2008. Its lyrics were written based around a conversation Enya and the Ryans had about Faulkner on a day surrounding his death and his favourite music. The track marks a departure from Enya's musical sryle in that it is her first song to use a steady drum track, including a prominent guitar solo performed by Pat Farrell, the first "I Want Tomorrow" on Enya's first studio album, Enya (1987). "Oíche Chiúin (Chrorale)" is the album's second traditional song, and is Enya's first since A Day Without Rain (2000) that is sung in Gaelic, her first language. It is the Irish version of the Christmas carol "Silent Night", a favourite of Enya's since she first learned it with her school choir. Enya had previously recorded a version of the carol as a B-side to her single "Evening Falls...", the second released from Watermark (1988). The decision to record a new version came from Nicky, who suggested more of a chorale arrangement and saw the track as a good opportunity to present Enya's voice as a choir, a wish of his since working with Enya. Roma added: "His little wish has come true. He has finally gone Enya to sing it exactly the way he had envisaged it".

Release and reception

An album launch party was held on 8 October 2008 at Two Temple Place in Temple, London which was decorated for the occasion in the theme of the album. This was followed by a press conference given by Enya the next day at The Dorchester hotel. A second launch party was held on 3 November 2008 at the Grosse Orangerie Charlottenburg building in Berlin and featured dancers of the Berlin State Ballet performing choreography set to Enya songs.

And Winter Came... was released on 10 November 2008 by Warner Music internationally; its release in the United States followed on 11 November 2008 by Reprise Records. The album debuted at number 8 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 35,812 copies in its first week. It rose to its peak of number 6 in the following week. On 28 November 2008, the album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for 100,000 copies sold. The album also peaked at number 6 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 92,000 copies. In its second week, the album sold 83,000 copies. It continued to sell, and received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on 12 December 2008 for sales in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. By October 2015, this number had grown to 920,000. Elsewhere, the album reached the top-20 in 21 countries in its first three weeks.

Enya released "Trains and Winter Rains" as the album's only physical single, in November 2008. This was followed by the release of three album tracks for digital download: "White Is in the Winter Night" on 4 November 2008, "My! My! Time Flies!" on 4 February 2009, and "Dreams Are More Precious" on 10 October 2009.

Track listing

All music composed by Enya; all lyrics by Roma Ryan; all songs produced by Nicky Ryan (except music and lyrics to "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and "Oíche Chiúin (Chrorale)" are traditional, arr. Enya and Nicky Ryan).

Charts, certifications and sales

Production

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.