"Age of Loneliness" is a 1994 single by the musical group,

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology *Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family o ...

. The song was released as the third single from ''

The Cross of Changes ''The Cross of Changes'' is the second studio album by the German musical project Enigma, headed by Romanian-German musician and producer Michael Cretu, released on 6 December 1993 by Virgin Records internationally and by Charisma Records in the ...

''.

Overview

The song can be regarded as a remixed version of an earlier Enigma song, " Carly's Song", where the song was originally more laid back and goes at a slower pace. The vocals in the song are whispered by

Sandra Cretu Sandra Ann Lauer (born 18 May 1962), commonly known under her stage name Sandra and Sandra Cretu (), is a Franco-German pop singer who enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with a string of European hit singles, produced ...

. The haunting chant in this song is of

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

n origin and has a tinge of

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

ing in it. It is from the Mongolian traditional

long song The long song ( mn, , ''Urtyn duu'') is one of the central elements of the traditional music of Mongolia. This genre is called "Long song" not only because the songs are long, but also because each syllable of text is extended for a long duration ...

, "Tosonguyn Oroygoor", sung by Dechinzundui Nadmid. For the "Enigmatic Club Mix", the beat of the song was pushed up a notch and laced generously with beeps of

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

throughout the song. The morse code spells out "I love you". For the "Jam & Spoon Remix", the song starts off with a short and relaxing piano piece. Although included in the "Age of Loneliness" single, it is exactly the same one found in the "Carly's Song" single. In the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song, the scene is set in New York City and entirely filmed in

sepia Sepia may refer to: Biology * ''Sepia'' (genus), a genus of cuttlefish Color * Sepia (color), a reddish-brown color * Sepia tone, a photography technique Music * ''Sepia'', a 2001 album by Coco Mbassi * ''Sepia'' (album) by Yu Takahashi * " ...

. People are seen floating through the air weightlessly but remain unseen by the surrounding people.

Sleeve

The background of the single cover is mostly white (or beige) and has a

tarot card The tarot (, first known as ''trionfi (cards), trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their ...

placed in the centre. The figure in the card might be seen as a wizard at first glance, but the person is actually a thin

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

conjuring up toys. The number "7" which appears at the four corners of the card indicates that the song is the seventh track in ''The Cross of Changes''.

Track listing

# Radio Edit – 4:14 # Clubby Radio Edit – 3:31 # Enigmatic Club Mix (128 bpm) – 6:23 # Jam & Spoon Remix (93 bpm) – 6:28 # Album Version – 5:19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Age Of Loneliness Enigma (German band) songs 1994 singles Songs written by Michael Cretu Song recordings produced by Michael Cretu 1993 songs Virgin Records singles Songs written by Anne Dudley