page_title: The Memory of Trees
section_title: Recording and production
hierarchical_section_title: The Memory of Trees / Recording and production
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the young king of the Black Isles: "When he came to this part of his narrative, the young king could not restrain his tears."
context_page_description: The Memory of Trees is the fourth studio album by the Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 20 November 1995 by WEA. After travelling worldwide to promote her previous album Shepherd Moons, and contributing to film soundtracks, Enya took a short break before she started writing and recording a new album in 1993 with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. The album is Enya's first to be recorded entirely in Ireland, and covers themes that include Irish and Druid mythology, the idea of one's home, journeys, religion, dreams and love. Enya continues to display her sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards and elements of Celtic and new age music, though Enya does not consider her music to be in the latter genre. She sings in English, Irish, Latin and Spanish.
  The Memory of Trees received mostly positive reviews from music critics. It became a worldwide commercial success, reaching number five in the United Kingdom and number nine on the Billboard 200 in the United States. In 2000, it was certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling three million copies.
context_section_description: After travelling worldwide since late 1991 to promote her previous album Shepherd Moons (1991), and working for the soundtrack to the romantic adventure drama film Far and Away (1992), the 31-year-old Enya took a break from music that lasted for approximately one year. She spent most of the time with her family, trying "to unwind", and visiting different places around the world to provide further inspiration for her songwriting. She returned to work in 1993 when she felt it was the right time to start writing and recording a new studio album with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Enya received further soundtrack offers during the recording of The Memory of Trees, but turned them down as she wished to concentrate solely on the album.
  During Enya's break from music, the Ryans moved home from Artane, a northern suburb of Dublin, to Killiney, County Dublin, which involved the relocation of Aigle Studio, their home recording facility where Enya had recorded her previous three albums, Enya (1987), Watermark (1988), and Shepherd Moons. Prior to the move, Enya and Nicky would start to record in Artane but were required to finish albums in London as Aigle lacked the right equipment to do so, which Enya found difficult as working in the city was met with frequent distractions and high studio rental costs, compared to the "very intimate and personal" setting at home. Aigle was rebuilt as a separate building on the grounds and upgraded with new equipment designed and built according to their specifications, thus making The Memory of Trees Enya's first to be recorded entirely in Ireland. She described the two-storey studio: "It's very peaceful and quiet. Upstairs we have this long room with two big arc windows at either end with a piano looking out over the Wicklow Mountains".
  Enya's pace and hours of working in the studio increased during the last eight months of recording, waking up at seven or eight in the morning and working until late in order to "give as much as I could" on the album. Enya later said she "gave 100 per cent" on it. When recording finished the album was mastered by Arun Chakraverty, who had also worked on the 1992 reissue of Enya, The Celts. Nicky was pleased to have the album complete due to the length of time it took to record. He reasoned this down to the three being "the worst enemies in deciding when a piece is finished ... listener fatigue sets in and we're unable to judge whether the work's ready."
  The album's sleeve design was arranged to a layout by Sooky Choi who, like Chakraverty, had worked on The Celts. Its front is an adaptation of The Young King of the Black Isles, a painting by American artist Maxfield Parrish from 1906, itself based on the story of the same name from the collection of folktales, One Thousand and One Nights. Enya is depicted as the crying young king sitting on his throne in a costume designed by English fashion designer Elizabeth Emanuel. Live action footage of Enya in the costume and pose is used in the music video to "Anywhere Is".
caption: The album's cover is based on The Young King of the Black Isles (1906) by Maxfield Parrish.
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