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Dido
Safe Trip Home
Review By Matt Conner
It’s been five years since British singer Dido released her last album, Life For Rent. The 2003 release, which succeeded her breakthrough debut No Angel, saw fairly massive success, but although it was reported that Dido began work on Safe Trip Home in 2005, she has mostly fallen off the grid until now. Despite the lengthy span between releases, Safe Trip Home, which was produced by Jon Brion, follows the formula of Dido’s two previous releases fairly closely. It offers emotional pop songs with delicate, sparse arrangements and an underlying theme of love throughout.
“Don’t Believe In Love,” an album track that was released in October, is subtly compelling, slowly increasing in urgency as Dido moans “If I don’t believe in love/nothing will last for me” over the chorus. “Never Want To Say It’s Love” follows suit, with a slighter bounce in its step, reminiscent of Dido’s earlier work (in a positive way), while “Grafter Street,” a lovely collaboration with Brian Eno, employs a hushed ambient backdrop to convey its emotive longing. Despite what the photograph of an astronaut in space on its cover might suggest, Safe Trip Home doesn’t venture into any new frontier or step very far outside the comfort zone of Dido’s past albums. But for those who either haven’t forgotten about Dido or welcome a reminder of her existence, it’s evidence of why she was so well liked to begin with.
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