The Portal

The Portal: 10 November 2025

Autumn is the most Enya of seasons so as a gauze of rain obscures the increasingly denuded branches outside we’re re-upping our 2015 interview with the Irish singer and the two artists who are responsible for her spectacularly successful career. Did Enya ever listen to the CDR compilation I gave her that featured Enya-fans Chris Carter of Throbbing Gristle, Holly Herndon, Gazelle Twin and so on? We’re marking half century anniversary Patti Smith’s Horses (our feature on the record here) with Ghostpoet’s Baker’s Dozen in which he recounts the time when he was working for Transport For London and picked up a call from the musician asking for directions to Brixton Academy for Sex Pistols gig. As Pet Shop Boys announce Obscure Pet Shop Boys – a run of intimate gigs at which they’ll play only rare tracks and B-Sides – we’ve got out PSB Beyond The Hits feature. We also have David Toop on Dr John’s Gris Gris, Wilko Johnson on Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary, a books piece on the women of Elena Ferrante’s novels and the writer’s quest for privacy, Robert Barry on the creative engine rooms that were New York’s loft spaces, and from our subscriber archive a piece on the wyrd history of Accrington Stanley FC. And finally we’ve seen some rave reviews of Laurie Anderson’s London gig this past weekend, and below you can find our guide to her strange world.