Enamoured

Following in the precedent set by Enigma's remarkable success in the 1990s, Bella Sonus' Enamoured blends together the more ethereal side of computer-composed world music with a heavy dose of ambient electronica, while differentiating themselves from their obvious peer with the guitar work of Angel Suarez. As it did for Enigma and many of the successive artists to follow — Deep Forest, Sarah Brightman, Delirium — this stylistic template works well, evoking a substantial amount of tranquility and a bit of rhythm in the process. The man behind the bulk of the music here, Robert Smith (keyboards, synthesizer, programming, samples), deserves ample recognition for his accomplishments on Enamoured, but one can't help but find it a bit derived. Still, if one can look past this possible observation, the music gleams with a sense of beauty rarely found in modern music.