Enya

SHEPHERD MOONSEnya (Reprise 26775) No matter how much new age artists might rely on mood to put their music across, it always helps if an album has a few tunes to go along with that atmosphere. Or so it would seem from a few listens to "Shepherd Moons," the latest offering from Irish synthesist Enya. Sure, the sonic tapestries she weaves are richly seductive, full of quiet chord washes and softly rippling arpeggios, but to tell the truth, such effects work best as background; when you get right down to it, it's the melody that matters most.

T op 40 Singles 1. Hoobastank, "The Reason" 2. Usher, "Burn" 3. Beyonce, "Naughty Girl" 4. Britney Spears, "Everytime" 5. Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy, "I Don't Wanna Know" Country Singles 1. Montgomery Gentry, "If You Ever Stop Loving Me" 2. Toby Keith, "Whiskey Girl" 3. Gretchen Wilson, "Redneck Woman" 4. Tim McGraw, "Live Like You Were Dying" 5. Lonestar, "Let's Be Us Again" Light Rock Singles 1. Five for Fighting, "100 Years"...

Part of what makes Ireland so brilliantly green is that it gets a healthy amount of rain. A simple observation, perhaps, but one that lies at the heart of Enya's quietly observant new album, "A Day Without Rain" (arriving in stores today). Her first new effort since 1995's "The Memory of Trees," it carries on in the same lush, contemplative vein of her previous albums. Yet where the songs on those albums often seemed pretty but unconnected, "A Day Without Rain" seems more of a piece, as if Enya had sought to compose a suite instead of a pop album.

Part of what makes Ireland so brilliantly green is that it gets a healthy amount of rain. A simple observation, perhaps, but one that lies at the heart of Enya's quietly observant new album, "A Day Without Rain" (arriving in stores today). Her first new effort since 1995's "The Memory of Trees," it carries on in the same lush, contemplative vein of her previous albums. Yet where the songs on those albums often seemed pretty but unconnected, "A Day Without Rain" seems more of a piece, as if Enya had sought to compose a suite instead of a pop album.

NEW YORK -- For someone who has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, Enya certainly has managed to keep a low profile.You won't see her nightclubbing with Madonna or touring the Amazon with Sting. She hasn't sat in with U2, jammed with the Stones or done a black-tie benefit with Luciano Pavarotti. She hasn't done Letterman and is almost never found in the pages of People.About the only place she ever does show up, in fact, is in people's CD collections. And frankly, that's fine with her."

NEW YORK -- Like many musicians, Enya loves being on the road. Traveling brings out the observer in her, allowing her to note differences between people and places, countries and cultures. It is, she says, endlessly fascinating. "I never seem to get tired of it. There's always something new."But she doesn't quite see the world the way other musicians of her stature would. At 36, she is the second-biggest pop act in Ireland, having sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. Of Irish pop acts, only U2 tops her in sales and success.

Top 40 Singles 1. Hoobastank, "The Reason" 2. Usher featuring Ludacris and Lil' Jon, "Yeah" 3. Maroon 5, "This Love" 4. Beyonce, "Naughty Girl" 5. Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy, "I Don't Wanna Know" Urban 1. Usher, "Burn" 2. Twista, "Overnight Celebrity" 3. Alicia Keys, "If I Ain't Got You" 4. Kanye West featuring Syleena Johnson, "All Falls Down" 5. Mario Winans featuring Enya and P. Diddy, "I Don't Wanna Know" Country 1. Gretchen...

NEW YORK -- Like many musicians, Enya loves being on the road. Traveling brings out the observer in her, allowing her to note differences between people and places, countries and cultures. It is, she says, endlessly fascinating. "I never seem to get tired of it. There's always something new."But she doesn't quite see the world the way other musicians of her stature would. At 36, she is the second-biggest pop act in Ireland, having sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. Of Irish pop acts, only U2 tops her in sales and success.

NEW YORK -- For someone who has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide, Enya certainly has managed to keep a low profile.You won't see her nightclubbing with Madonna or touring the Amazon with Sting. She hasn't sat in with U2, jammed with the Stones or done a black-tie benefit with Luciano Pavarotti. She hasn't done Letterman and is almost never found in the pages of People.About the only place she ever does show up, in fact, is in people's CD collections. And frankly, that's fine with her."

The Memory of TreesEnya (Reprise 46106)Because she's so partial to breathy synths and soft, billowing clouds of harmony, Enya's music is so vaporous and ethereal that her albums often sound like the soundtrack to somebody's dreams. What sets "The Memory of Trees" apart, though, is that it augments those insinuating whispers of melody with material that is not merely upbeat but downright infectious. There's an energy to "Anywhere Is" that goes beyond anything Enya has recorded before, a liveliness that makes the regularity of its cadences seem positively hypnotic.