DIDO on Safe Trip Home
“I DON’T want to make a record for the sake of it. I want to make a record when I’ve got something to say.”
On November 3, Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong will prove she has something to say again.
Five years and 35 days on from the release of her second album, Life For Rent, she will unveil Safe Trip Home — eleven songs covering 50 minutes.
It’s a deeply emotional work, reflecting on the death of her beloved Irish father William in 2006, on the overwhelming power of love and on the crushing fear of being alone.
For more of the interview, please go to didomusic.com.
Grafton Street, written with reliably dazzling soundscapist Brian Eno, is one the most touching reflections on the loss of a loved one you’re likely to hear.
“The core of this album is the same as the others,” she says. “When I write and sing songs, I try to put every emotion into them. I hope they move people. That’s only ever been the concept of what I’ve done. For me, feeling alive is feeling some form of emotion.”
In a special SFTW exclusive, we hear not only from the singer, born 36 years ago on Christmas Day, but also her chief collaborators . . . brother Rollo, Jon Brion and Jim Scott.
Dreamy
We also bring you a preview of five key tracks and a full tracklist, from the sultry vocals and rhythmic groove of Don’t Believe In Love (the first single) to the serene nine-minute finale Northern Skies.
Dido says: “One of the things I wanted to do this time is just go with something and trust a lot of my first instincts.”
And, of course, the long gap between records makes Safe Trip Home the year’s most anticipated release.
The musical map has been redrawn in Dido’s absence by a new wave of girl singers such as Duffy, Adele and Kate Nash. Let’s not forget, too, the impact of the queen of retro, Amy Winehouse.
So, can Dido repeat the phenomenal success of No Angel and Life For Rent, both commanding sales of around three million copies in the UK alone? Can her smooth vocals set to dreamy orchestrations and subtle beats return her to the top of the pile?
Are there enough songs to match the memorable hit singles: White Flag, Life For Rent’s title track, Here With Me and Thank You?
The answer is that she has more than a fighting chance. Safe Trip Home is a beautifully crafted song-cycle with enough hooks to keep listeners and radio stations enthralled.
I sense that despite the pressure to deliver a third monster success, Dido has made the record she wanted under her own terms.
“This record has been very much about thinking, ‘Who do I really, really like? Who do I really wanna work with?’ And doing that,” she affirms.
Chief among her allies is Los Angeles-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion and it is clear enormous attention to detail was paid to get the album just right.
“The effort that’s gone into some of the sounds on the record would possibly make me look like the biggest nerd in the world,” she says.
“Instead of actually playing a keyboard, Jon might have played 32 components to make up a keyboard sound. We’d use a horn section or a whole orchestra or a wind section“We did some really interesting things. On Northern Skies, we slowed the track down massively and got them (the orchestra) to play some quite crazy stuff which made great keyboard sounds.”
An ever-present in Dido’s musical journey has been elder brother Rollo, the producer and remix maestro best known for his work in dance sensations Faithless. His new production company Ark co-produced the album with Jon and Dido.
Of Safe Trip Home, Rollo says: “The lyrics are so important. I think there’s never any pretention with the lyrics on a Dido record.
“They’re supposed to say what they mean but in a way that’s not clichéd.
“The key to her records is the idea that it goes from Dido to the listener in the most straightforward, honest, quick way. It’s like emotional A to B with as little interference as possible from me as a producer, with no trickery. I think both of us have the same kind of musical heritage, growing up in the same house etc. Both of us love music that moves us.”
For Jon Brion, who’s also worked with Kanye West, Keane and Fiona Apple, the creation of the album enabled him to watch Dido grow as a musician.
Piano
“She doesn’t have to conscientiously go out to carve her own space. She’s an individual. If she just goes about being herself, she’s fine,” he says.
“She’s taken time out to learn to play drums, to really work on her piano and guitar playing, to learn about engineering, to master every aspect of her job. Her touch on the piano is stunning.”
The recording was split between Jon’s home studio in LA and the famed Abbey Road Studios in London where The Beatles created their sonic masterpieces. Jon says: “At Abbey Road, there’s this beautiful, very delicate, soft-sounding old piano. Dido asked me to teach her the chords and she went down and, in two takes, absolutely murdered the piano.”
And Jim Scott, who previously worked on albums by Johnny Cash, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers, adds: “Dido is totally unique in my experience.
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I’ve never had an artist go out and play the guitar, play the piano, play the drums, sing the vocal, write the songs and do it all so flowingly, effortlessly and beautifully.
“It’s really an interesting treat to watch her float through her day and do her work.”
So welcome back, Dido. One in five UK households owns one of your records. Safe Trip Home is guaranteed a safe trip into our hearts.
Here we focus on five of the new songs:
DON’T BELIEVE IN LOVE: “I want to go to bed with arms around me but wake up on my own.”
The first line of the first song on the first Dido album for five years.
It ushers in a wistful, mid-tempo performance that bears the old Dido knack of getting under your skin.
The slinky beats and tasteful orchestration set the tone for the album. Already slated for a late October single release, it’s a track that reveals its subtle pleasures bit by bit.
GRAFTON STREET: With its mournful Celtic feel, this could possibly be Dido’s greatest song. Co-written with Brian Eno (U2, Coldplay, etc), it’s a heartfelt lament for her late father, brushed with contemporary atmospherics but rooted in tradition.
It stretches to nearly six minutes and her performance on the recorder as the track ebbs to a close truly summons the spirit of the Emerald Isle.
LOOK NO FURTHER: Already downloaded for free once every 1.2 seconds from didomusic.com/looknofurther during its first three days, this is an ideal taster for listeners counting the days till the full album release.
BURNIN’ LOVE: Wispy acoustic guitar paves the way for a gem of a love song. She’s joined by multi-talented US musician Citizen Cope, who offers exquisite harmonies and a snatch of lead vocals.
NORTHERN SKIES: “For once there was beauty here for me under the wide Northern Skies.” An ambitious, slow-paced nine minutes of pastoral loveliness — confirmation this album retains quality all the way to its end.
GO ON THIS LINK TO VIEW THE ARTICLE + A MOVIE SNEAK PREVIEW OF THE ALBUM-
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