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Prior to launching her solo career, Dido was featured on the albums by
her brother Rollo's band Faithless. The Hem Of His Garment, from their
2nd album Sunday 8PM, thrust Dido centre-stage, and highlighted her
gently evocative voice that falls somewhere between Sarah McLachlan and
Beth Orton. (DVDfever Ed: Here With Me reminds me
a great deal of Judie Tzuke's Stay With Me Till Dawn).
Dido's musical style is equally reminiscent of others, and while the 12
songs on No Angel are uniformly excellent, there is no real identity to
the sound... as yet. A splash of Portishead here, a helping of The Corrs
there, as well as the previously-mentioned McLachlan and Orton
similarities.
The lyrics are personal, often candid, in typically singer-songwriter
fashion. Dido doesn't resort to affecting a seductively sweet vocal
style, her voice is subtly alluring in a more natural manner, with a
slightly yelping rasp at times which brings to mind
The Cranberries'
Dolores O'Riordan. She is as likely to appeal to women as she is to men,
projecting a strong-but-sensitive persona that's both accessible and
dignified. This probably helped her cause in America, where such virtues
are rewarded.
The new and the original album covers.
Standouts on the album are the debut UK single Here With Me - a
towering, dramatic slice of ambient rock (if such a thing exists) that
just gets better with every listen - and of course Thank You, also
likely to see the light of day as a single in its own right sometime
soon.
Elsewhere, a darker side of Dido is revealed on Isobel, I'm No Angel and
the stoic noir-ballad My Life. These feature towards the end of the CD,
and it's common belief that the second half of No Angel is stronger than
the first. It might well be, for Don't Think Of Me and All You Want are
commercial, but comparatively undistinguished soft-rock anthems, while
Hunter and My Lover's Gone are moody, yet slightly one-dimensional when
set alongside the complex delights of later tracks on the album.
Timing is all in the music business. Dido has come to prominence during
a period of notable mediocrity, with cyncially-marketed drivel for
pre-teens suffocating the UK charts more comprehensively than ever.
Also, January is traditionally one of the "easiest" months of the year
for breaking an act, when the post-Christmas market is especially keen
to lap up some fresh sounds and new names. In 2000, it was Moby and his
all-conquering Play album. This year, on current evidence, it looks like
being Dido.
There are many positive things about this personable, attractive and
talented artist, and the way she is shunting the pop pap to the
sidelines, even briefly, is one of them. No Angel might not be the most
radical album of this, or any other, year... but it's one of the most
promising. And the best.
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