text: Recording and production After travelling worldwide since late 1991 to promote her previous album Shepherd Moons (1991), and working for the soundtrack to the romantic adventure drama film Far and Away (1992), the 31-year-old Enya took a break from music that lasted for approximately one year. She spent most of the time with her family, trying "to unwind", and visiting different places around the world to provide further inspiration for her songwriting. She returned to work in 1993 when she felt it was the right time to start writing and recording a new studio album with her longtime recording partners, arranger and producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan. Enya received further soundtrack offers during the recording of The Memory of Trees, but turned them down as she wished to concentrate solely on the album.
  During Enya's break from music, the Ryans moved home from Artane, a northern suburb of Dublin, to Killiney, County Dublin, which involved the relocation of Aigle Studio, their home recording facility where Enya had recorded her previous three albums, Enya (1987), Watermark (1988), and Shepherd Moons. Prior to the move, Enya and Nicky would start to record in Artane but were required to finish albums in London as Aigle lacked the right equipment to do so, which Enya found difficult as working in the city was met with frequent distractions and high studio rental costs, compared to the "very intimate and personal" setting at home. Aigle was rebuilt as a separate building on the grounds and upgraded with new equipment designed and built according to their specifications, thus making The Memory of Trees Enya's first to be recorded entirely in Ireland. She described the two-storey studio: "It's very peaceful and quiet. Upstairs we have this long room with two big arc windows at either end with a piano looking out over the Wicklow Mountains".