Ask Dido: Part 2

The following has been taken from Dido's site:

"Are you afraid about coming back to your career? Because you were absent for years!!
Mohammed Kaaki, Lebanon
Dido replies: I've certainly never left my career! My life is music and it is part of my every day. I've been really enjoying touring and then making music in the studio these last few years. Learning new instruments, writing more and more, learning about every aspect of music that I can question and doing a lot of home recording! But yes, it is always a challenge for me to then bring the music into the public domain. That has never changed for me. When I write I forget that anything will be heard by anyone. It's such a personal and insular experience between me and the song and the music. So it will take me a bit of adjustment to not feel awkward about the other stuff.


Hi Dido my question is how can you describe your new album to fans who have only heard your singles up to now?
Jamie Daborn
Dido replies: It's not really up to me to describe it. I just pour everything into it and then leave that to other people when they listen. I wlll never know what people hear when they listen to it. I can only go on what I love. But the few things I can tell you are that it is still all about the song. That is what I love about making music. And this time round I decided to reference what I love about electronic music but try and make every sound with non-programmed instruments. For me, that gives it a warmth and dynamic as every keyboard sound, beat, blip, whatever is played by me or my friends. It leaves many surprises in there for the repeat listener.

If I wanted a keyboard sound we would create it with bells, orchestras, old modular synths, marimbas, glass harmonicas, old pianos, playing percussion on guitars, wind instruments, anything! If we wanted a drum loop I would go to the source and managed to work with some of the best drummers in the world (the ones we would have sampled before...). If I wanted reverb on my vocal I would climb into the reverb chamber and sing the whole song again underneath. It obviously took a little time to get the right sound sometimes but it was so much fun and totally worth it in my opinion as it creates a depth and warmth that means I'm still hearing things in the tracks I haven't heard before (and I've heard them a lot...)."