Day 199: Enya – A Day Without Rain

I’m sure you may be sick of me talking about my nervous system, but I’m not sick of talking about it just yet – I might as well be walking around with a t-shirt on saying “ASK ME ABOUT MY HEART RATE VARIABILITY.” Surely it says a lot about me that I don’t know enough wellness people to be able to dork out with about this sufficiently, but if I don’t say this stuff somewhere, I might combust.

Album cover courtesy of WEA

What I’ve done now is that on top of all the other stuff I’m engaging in – sleeping more, working out more, meditating – I have bought myself a gizmo. It’s sort of like a shock collar for people, it sends electrical currents to your vagus nerve. Does it work? Who knows, but at least I’m having fun. Today, I need a relaxing album to listen to while I lay down with a nice sack of wheat over my eyes and an electrocution device on my neck, all in the name of wellness.

If I think relaxing, I immediately think of Enya. Having never met the woman, I can tell you that woman has a balanced nervous system. Exhibit A: she lives in a castle by the sea on her own and rarely checks her emails because she thinks it’s bad vibes. Exhibit B: Her music. She makes music for chilling, surely she is also chill. I also feel like I can skip the intro since I already covered Enya on day 81, so it’s a win-win, really.

Here’s what I love about Enya: the world is full of conflict and strife and hatred, but pop on a bit of Enya and all you want to do is slap on a face mask and melt into your couch cushions while pondering how much it would cost to heat an Irish castle. I also love how she’s doing her whole music career, not going on tours or press junkets and flogging her personal brand on TikTok, but just putting out what she wants to put out and dipping away from public life. If this was an option for everyone, maybe it would be a bit less taxing to be a young artist.

However,  A Day Without Rain is a bit more surface level than Watermark, the sound is a little less lush, her voice less intense and at least for me, it wasn’t as emotionally evocative. It’s more just an album to relax to and enjoy the sound of it. Lyrically, it’s your garden variety new age stuff about self-discovery and Roman goddesses, which isn’t a problem, but it’s also nothing to write home about. And yet it does what it says on the tin. With my woowoo wellness practices accompanied by my hokey new age album, I do have to say that I feel incredibly relaxed.

There comes a day in every woman’s life when you understand some basic facts: Enya rules, and leopard print is a fun way to spice up your closet. I can now officially say I’m there. A Day Without Rain is an 8.5/10.