Enigma

1994. It was, perhaps, impossible to view VH1 at any given moment during that year and miss the memorable clip for Enigma's "Return to Innocence". Opening with the peaceful death of an elderly man beneath a tree, the video unfolds in reverse exposition (a la Coldplay's "The Scientist") to weave the tale of that man's life all the way back to birth - the literal return to innocence.

Inspired by recent revisitations to the work of E.S. Posthumus and simultaneously reminded of the mid-nineties by dusting off my copy of In the House of Stone and Light, I felt compelled to remain in flashback mode and review the early works of prominent electronica musicians Enigma.

Fronted primarily by the gifted Michael Cretu and an insanely awesome bamboo flute, Enigma burst onto the electronica/new age scene in the early nineties with impressive bravado. For a few precious years, they accomplished the improbable and made new age sound rather swell.

Then, as fate would have it, Yanni had his Acropolis deal in '94 and Enya released an album a year later. New age sunk back into its former state of what could be described as "cotton candy" music. Though it should be noted Enya did win a Grammy for her record, but a new age Grammy is pretty much a Gimme Grammy. Enya has racked up a win for nearly every album released. At last count, she is up to at least four or five.

You see, it's not exactly a hotly contested genre.

But I digress.

With the release of MCMXC a.D. in 1990, Enigma catapulted themselves to stardom with a brilliant cohesion of Gregorian chants, sweet synth beats, and the aforementioned insanely awesome bamboo flute. Their work would be drafted into dozens of films, trailers, and television ads and have the distinction of featuring on my fifth grade mix tape.

Their early albums, perhaps inevitably, sound a bit prosaic at present. It is probably difficult for first-time listeners to recognize that in 1990 the sound of Enigma was both edgy and stylistically nouveau.

Fourteen years after release, there is still something innately special about "Return to Innocence" - indeed, the whole of Cross of Changes is an impressive piece of work. Never, before or since, did Cretu and crew combine their stock of worldly chants and electronica beats with such pitch perfect effect.

That's why it will always remain a mainstay in my collection, and that's why it should remain in yours as well.

"Mea Culpa" from MCMXC a.D. (1990)

"Return to Innocence" from The Cross of Changes (1993)