A Day Without Rain (Warner)

It is clear that Enya's most creative and best works were her spectacular debut Watermark album and the follow-up Shepherd Moons, which both sold over 10 million copies apiece. Yet while her later release Memory of Trees continued her commercial success, her music tended to descend into more formulaic New Age babble. Unfortunately, Enya's newest release, A Day Without Rain follows this trend. It follows almost song-by-song the same trajectory of Memory of Trees. Both have purely instrumental opening title tracks. The second song is a catchy made-for-pop-radio number, (in this case, "Wild Child"). The third is an imposing chant reminiscent of Gregorian monks, and a few plaintive songs and instrumentals later, the album ends with the catchy "Lazy Days," which corresponds almost exactly to "On My Way Home" on Memory of Trees.

This is not to say that what she does is no longer effective. Packed into the little more than half-an-hour's worth of music is the same startling harmonies and clear, almost heavenly voice that made Enya a favorite of fans around the globe. Unfortunately this very music now appears hollow, lacking the spirituality that her previous albums embodied (for example, the sense of sadness pervading throughout Watermark). And without that center, what is left is what A Day Without Rain is: a candy-covered shell. B- -Jimmy Zha