Amarantine (the song) is essentially Only Time part 2 - pizzicato strings, same tempo, about love.  Except this song is maybe what you'd sing after you've found love.  This song also portends what the rest of the album holds.  To wit, borderline sappy lyrics about love that could have come from a teenager.  I echo the sentiments of another reviewer - this song is gorgeous but lyrically embarrassing.  It's definitely on the borderline of being too cheesy, but not as bad as some later songs.  I like the dramatic chorus that keeps getting higher, but have mixed feelings about the huge reverb at the end.  You can still hear it almost halfway into the next verse!  That also speaks to the vocally sparse (by Enya standards) nature of the song, and the album in general (more on that later).  Even though the song feels unfinished, I still really enjoy it.  When I find my next love I want to serenade him with it.

It's in the Rain uses the same 1-4-5 progression found in countless other Enya tracks, including the one immediately preceding it.  Again, it feels very vocally spare - not much backing vocals, and the lead vocal is very up front and center.  The instrumentation is also pretty bare.  My first impression three years ago - the dramatic chorus reminds me of early Enya (Orinoco Flow).  It's nice to hear little snippets that take you back.  The bridge is pretty, but the chords are all too familiar and there are no words in it.

For most songs, there is one part where I feel it all just comes together and works.  In It's in the Rain, that 'moment' is right as verse 2 goes into the chorus.  That 2nd chorus is like the 'best' part of the song for me.  In the next song, If I Could Be Where You Are, it's that last chorus.  So by now the theme of album is definitely sinking in.  It's about love!  Love is love is love.  When composing love songs, it's hard to write lyrics that are poignant but not sappy; this song and the title track skirt the line.

The River Sings is the 'intense' track of the album, and the second of three Loxian songs.  It has a tribal feel; there's the drone in C major; it feels Ebudae-esque (from Shepherd Moons), but with almost a techno/dance beat.  There's some nice vocal layering here, but it's not the huge vocal landscape we've heard before.  I like this track because it's loud but not brooding (unlike the dark Latin tracks), and also because the lyrics continue the theme of journey begun in Less Than A Pearl.

Long Long Journey?  What's with some of these track titles?  Anyway.  I do like how this love song takes a different angle, that of a soldier's journey home.  I don't really like how aside from the bridge, the entire song is three chords over and over again.  There's that snare drum again.  Personally, this song seems more loud than anything else.

A song in Japanese!!  すばらしい！ Sumiregusa (菫草) is a song about the beauty of nature.  Admittedly a slow melody, Eithne says that they thought Japanese would suit the song well, and it does.  Plus, her accent is pretty decent.  I really like this song, even the 'water sprinkler' vocalization after the third verse.  Listen to it with headphones and hear it move around - it's really neat.

Someone Said Goodbye...cheesy cheesy cheesy, from the title to the lyrics.  The instrumentation is actually interesting (the 'rolling' piano, the pizzicato, the cymbals), but paired with just bad lyrics, it's hard for me to enjoy the album version of this song.  'Is there a reason why a broken heart begins to cry'??  Give me a break.  They actually made a remix for radio play which I like much better because it makes the lyrics less prominent.  They added a drum pad and some other good stuff.  The bridge is actually kind of novel too.

Ah, we've arrived.  It's time for the folk song around the 3/4 mark, just like in the last two albums (Pilgrim on ADWR, Once You Had Gold in TMOT).  And on this album it's A Moment Lost.  Seriously, these lyrics need to stop.  Okay, they're not that bad, but they're all so focused on love.  The only breaks have been the non-English tracks.  On the plus side, the opening vocal layers remind me of Clannad.  They're nicely done.

The only instrumental track is Drifting, and for some reason it's buried down at track 10.  I find this track a bit too repetitive - it could have done with one fewer 'verse' at the end.  I like the bridge a lot though, and the piano and cello are an interesting combo.  It sounds like an electric cello actually, as it's too real-sounding to be synthesized, but too fake-sounding to be acoustic.

Amid the Falling Snow is another nature-themed song that meshes nicely with the love theme.  There's more piano/cello here, which is good to me - it's nice that they're trying new instrumentation.  This song is quite reminiscent of One By One in terms of chord progression and key signature.  I like how low Eithne sings here.  I do wish they would stop with the cutesy rhyme schemes.  I feel it limits the scope of the lyrics and makes the song sound simplistic.  One thing I love here is the vocal layering towards the end, from the third verse onward.  In the second chorus, one of the layers sounds like falling snow to me (the high 'ahhs' that seem to fade in and out).  It's very effective, and the 'hoo's and 'haa's are neat too.  The 'moment' for me in this song is the vocalization at the end.  Although it's just a 1-4-5 four times, it sums up the song well for me.

The Loxian closing track shows us a nice variety in the Loxian songs.  The lyrics also sum up the major themes of the album - love and journey.  I find Water Shows the Hidden Heart (Syoom brraaya) quite beautiful, with some amazing harmonies.  The vocals in the bridge are breathtaking.  For some reason the quivering voice reminds me of the town music in Zelda 2: Adventure of Link... This is another great closer.