Perhaps even
Dido realized that the chief criticism lodged against her first two albums was that they were a bit too placid, so she decided to change things, albeit subtly, on her third,
Safe Trip Home. This album appears five years after 2003's
Life for Rent, which is only a year longer than the gap between
No Angel and
Life, yet it feels like it had a longer gestation:
Dido's songs are subtler and richer, and so is the production, largely a collaboration with
Jon Brion but also featuring
Brian Eno on "Grafton Street." These are two of an impressive lineup of guests who range from
Mick Fleetwood to
Citizen Cope and ?uestlove from
the Roots, but don't be mistaken in thinking that this is a dramatic break from
Dido's elegant, shimmering past: it's a deepening, adding layers and textures, both musical and emotional, that are apparent upon the first listen but reveal themselves more with repeat spins. This is less about the surface -- something that
Life for Rent could sometimes seem to be all about -- than what's underneath, as
Dido's songs here gently hook their way into the subconscious on. There are melancholic edges, but it's not haunting, it's comforting, reassuring music that's quietly powerful, music that
Dido hinted at before but never quite made.