Enya and Roma developed "One Toy Soldier" into a children's song about an old toy soldier with a broken drum that is a family's heirloom, but despite its age is still loved. "Last Time by Moonlight" is a romantic song that developed around the idea of two people who once loved each other having since split, and the reflection on one's life that could happen around Christmas time. 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. is like a dark winter journey and I think everybody has taken this journey where it's time to leave home. Enya described the meaning behind " Trains and Winter Rains": "The song. 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. Gold is in the candlelight and crimson in the embers". 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 lyrics that describe the various colours associated with Christmas time: "Green is in the mistletoe and red is in the holly. The song is dedicated to the American director and editor Tim Royes, who produced the music videos for Enya's songs " Amarantine" and " It's in the Rain" and died in 2007. "Journey of the Angels" was written in the style of what Enya described as a "slow traditional carol", with Roma emphasising its religious aspect, and chose it as a personal highlight of the album. The majority of Enya's albums begin with a same-titled instrumental and she selected the title track as the opener because its themes "sets the mood of autumn going into winter". "And Winter Came." is an instrumental and a rearranged version of "Midnight Blue", the B-side to " Wild Child", the second single from A Day Without Rain (2000).
As with her previous albums recording took place at Aigle Studio, the Ryans' home studio in Killiney, County Dublin. It features ten original tracks with lyrics sung in English. The album was recorded between 20 with Enya and her longtime collaborators, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Nicky Ryan added that the album developed into one "based in a winter landscape where Christmas arrives here and there, but it would be wrong to call it an Enya Christmas album." Initially, Enya approached the project with the idea of combining tracks from the Sounds of the Season EP with some new material, but this was scrapped when an album of songs of a Christmas or winter theme was more attractive as the new music that Enya had developed suited it better. She was inspired by the idea as winter is her favourite time of year, calling it "very reflective very calming", during which she spends the most time developing sketches of music that she had put down throughout the year. For her next studio album Enya decided to record an album of Christmas music, a project that she had wanted to do for some time. In November 2006, after her promotional tour for her previous studio album Amarantine (2005), Enya put out her fourth EP entitled Sounds of the Season: The Enya Collection, a Christmas-themed release containing new and previously released songs from the special Christmas edition of Amarantine, also released in the same month. The album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide. To promote the album, Enya made several interviews, appearances, and live performances. The track " Trains and Winter Rains" was the album's only physical single, and was followed by "Dreams Are More Precious", " White Is in the Winter Night", and "My! My! Time Flies!", released as digital downloads. The album received mixed to positive reviews from music critics and became a worldwide success, reaching the top 10 in 21 countries in its first three weeks, including No. It was recorded with her longtime collaborators, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. After recording new Christmas songs for her fourth EP Sounds of the Season: The Enya Collection (2006), Enya started work on a Christmas album of traditional carols and original tracks, but the idea was changed to a collection of songs with a Christmas or winter theme as it better suited the style of the new material.
is the seventh studio album by Irish singer, songwriter, and musician Enya, released on 10 November 2008 by Warner Music.