Rating: * * * *
It may be a terrible thing to say, but death seems to become Dido. Safe Trip Home - her first album since the 2003 hit Life for Rent - was shaped by the death of her father, William, in 2006. The result is
a strangely soothing and listenable album from a woman who has, frankly, never been that likeable.
Dido's lack of vocal dynamics continues to define her music but her voice seems to have mellowed with age and she refrains from cracking into the ultra-sonic range she was once so enamoured with.
Instrumentally, she has restricted her palette to subtle acoustic guitars and muted drum beats, with the occasional string flourish or tinkering piano. She embraces her childhood passion for the recorder - an instrument she once stole from her primary school as a 5-year-old, leading to her parents enrolling her in London's Guildhall School of Music - on the beautifully haunting Grafton Street, dedicated to her late father.
Other highlights include the simple strum of Quiet Times, the heartbreaking Look No Further and seductive coo of Let's Do the Things We Normally Do.
Often referred to as the Bridget Jones of music, diarising her personal life in song, Safe Trip Home is no exception. But the heartbreak and grief of losing her father make for far more compelling listening than her earlier "just ditched my boyfriend" efforts.
Joanna Hunkin
