The Juno-60 was a particular favourite of hers. Enya played a variety of keyboards and synthesisers, including the Yamaha KX88 master keyboard, Yamaha TX802, Oberheim Matrix-6R, Akai S900, Roland D-50, Juno-60 and PPG Wave. Enya wrote and recorded the album without the use of a click track to retain a more natural feel to the music. He made a conscious effort not to incorporate audio compression as he wished to make the music sound satisfactory "at the recording end". Nicky operated a Fostex E16 tape machine with KEF and Yamaha NS-10M speakers for monitoring, two Alesis MIDIverb II models, an ATC Q1 for reverb, and a Roland SDE-1000 Digital Delay for delay. It was initially recorded in demo form at Aigle Studio, a 16-track facility located in the basement of the Ryans' home, then located in Artane, a northern suburb of Dublin. With the green-light to make a new album, Enya recorded Watermark from June 1987 to April 1988. In 1989, she said: "We wouldn't part with it for anything in the world".
The Roland Juno-60, a favourite keyboard of Enya's that she used on Watermark. I just wanted to be involved with this music." In the process, Enya departed from Atlantic and signed to the Warner-led Geffen Records to handle distribution in North America. Dickins later said, "Sometimes you sign an act to make money, and sometimes you sign an act to make music. After a period of negotiations, Dickins signed Enya, granting her wish for complete artistic freedom without interference from management or deadlines to have albums finished. Weeks later, he met Enya and the Ryans at a chance meeting at the year's Irish Recorded Music Association Awards in Dublin where Dickens learned Enya was considering signing with a rival label, prompting him to attract her to Warner. Soon after its release Rob Dickins, then chairman of Warner Music UK, became a fan of the album, playing it "every night before I went to bed". It was a mild commercial success, peaking at number 69 in the United Kingdom.
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It was originally produced as the soundtrack to the BBC2 documentary series The Celts, with Enya and her recording partners of five years, manager, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. In March 1987, the 26-year-old Enya released her self-titled debut solo album Enya on BBC Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. Watermark was reissued in 1989, 1991, and 2009 the first two contain " Storms in Africa (Part II)" as a bonus track the latter was a Japanese release with a second entitled "Morning Glory". Four singles were released from the album, including the international top-ten hit " Orinoco Flow", which spent three weeks at number one in the United Kingdom. To promote the album, Enya embarked on a worldwide promotional tour which included interviews, appearances, and live performances. It was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 1.2 million and four million copies across the United Kingdom and the United States, respectively. It peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, number twenty-five on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and reached number one in New Zealand and Switzerland. Watermark received many positive reviews from critics and it became an unexpected commercial success, which propelled Enya to worldwide fame. Watermark features music in different styles, displaying Enya's sound of multi-tracked vocals with keyboards, percussion instruments, and elements of Celtic, ambient, and New-age music, though Enya believes her music does not belong in the latter genre. It was initially recorded in Ireland in demo form before production relocated to London to re-record, mix, and master it digitally. Enya recorded Watermark in ten months with her longtime collaborators, manager, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Her contract allowed her considerable artistic and creative freedom, with minimal interference from the label and no deadlines to have albums finished. After the release of her previous album Enya (1987), she secured a recording contract with Warner after a chance meeting with chairman Rob Dickins, who had become a fan of her music. Watermark is the second studio album by Irish singer, songwriter and musician Enya, released on 19 September 1988 by WEA.