The image gracing the cover of Safe Trip Home, Dido’s third studio release, both mirrors and contrasts the artist herself. The spaceman suspended high above the world in infinite black is so far reaching from Dido’s chill, down-to-earth style, but picturesquely echoes that ethereal, floating quality that is unique only to her voice.

It has been five years since Dido’s sophomore effort, Life for Rent, and nine years altogether since her debut. Well worth the wait, this album is true Dido form. The grooving, soulful beat of “Don’t Believe in Love” is a great launch point (no pun intended) for the album. “It Comes And It Goes” is one of this reviewer’s favourites. The complementary rise and fall of the melody and her voice carries you along like a sweet breeze. “Us 2 Little Gods” is a great folk song that plays like it’s yellowed with age.

Many critics feel Dido’s greatest flaw is that she shies away from showing any kind of real emotion in her voice, that she fears the kind of intimacy it would take to be so revealing. Melodrama is not Dido’s forte; never has been and probably never will be. If we can understand and accept that about her, only then can we enjoy her music for what it is — mellow, mature, subdued melancholy.

Frankly, I’m tired of all the divas screaming out false emotions in manufactured songs, frustratingly holding those high notes to no end. The fact that Dido makes no pretence and forces nothing unnatural out makes her more honest and more sincere that most artists out there today. She shouldn’t have to direct your emotions, and she doesn’t. For that, I applaud her.



Safe Trip Home was released on November 18th. A deluxe edition of the album is available which includes bonus tracks not found on the standard CD. Eleven film shorts from around the world will be made to accompany the eleven main tracks. You can access the project at the album’s official website: http://www.safetriphome.com/


Track Listing:

Don’t Believe in Love – great little guitar riff
Quiet Times
Never Want To Say It’s Love
Grafton Street
It Comes and It Goes
Look No Further
Us 2 Little Gods
The Day Before The Day
Let’s Do The Things We Normally Do
Burnin’ Love
Northern Skies
[Bonus Track from Deluxe Edition] For One Day
[Bonus Track from Deluxe Edition] Summer
[Bonus Track from Deluxe Edition] Northern Skies (Rollo Version)
[Bonus Track from Deluxe Edition] The Day Before the Day (5/4) (Early Mix)