'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
Member since:15.07.2000
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When Dido burst onto the scene a few years ago, I have to say that I wasn’t terribly enthused. I didn’t particularly like the vocals on Thank You, and although I wouldn’t say that I disliked any of her songs, I never felt compelled to buy anything that she recorded. Whether her musical style has changed, or whether my musical tastes have mellowed, I’m not sure, but just lately I seem to find myself listening to nobody else.
Despite the fact that she smiles in nearly every photograph I have ever seen, there is something inherently sad about Dido’s music. She tends to sing about sad things, for a start. Failed relationships, unrequited love, separation and bereavement. These are the things that inhabit Dido’s musical home. But just because she is sad, it doesn’t mean that she is depressing. Life For Rent is tender, easy to listen to mood music that has become a gentle musical companion to me on long journeys or during long, uneventful evenings.
For those of you who have never heard her sing (and I can’t imagine there are many of you) she has a powerful, but slightly unusual voice. At times she sounds slightly hoarse, but then at other times her voice is smooth and sensual. Much of the material on Life For Rent reminds me of the sort of stuff that Everything But The Girl used to produce and there is even a similarity between Dido’s vocals
and that of Tracy Thorn, the lead singer from Everything But The Girl. Dido’s material is all co-written with her brother Rollo, who himself has an impressive musical career history, having produced and/or mixed a plethora of trance anthems. The trance influence is not completely missed here either. The arrangement of several tracks on this album is fairly haunting, rather like a chilled out piece of trance music.
The album isn’t entirely consistent. Of the eleven tracks, there are probably six that really stand out as being memorable, with a couple of slightly weaker tracks and a couple more songs that I generally pass over. For me, the weaker songs are probably those where Dido verges more into a folk-like sound that reminds me of Morris dancing and real ale. Even the titles make them sound like a throwback from the Sixties, with songs called Mary’s In India and Sand in my Shoes. As such, I find Life For Rent fairly difficult to listen to from end to end, as one or two of the songs don’t really match the mood of the rest. Certainly, the album opens far stronger than it closes. Without having bought Dido’s first album, No Angel, it would be difficult to make fair comparisons, but based on the single releases there would appear to be a few changes. The singles released off No Angel seemed to have a more epic, grandiose sound to them. Life For Rent is gentler, and perhaps more under-stated than its predecessor.
For me, this is one of the most appealing things about Dido. Dido is the ultimate girl-next-door turned pop star – according to Metro newspaper, she still spends her evenings playing Scrabble with her friends. It is this down-to-earth nature that makes both her and her music so appealing. There is no celebrity here, just a fine vocalist with some beautiful songs to sing. In fact, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that Life For Rent was written specifically for those of us who enjoy a glass of red wine and a game of Scrabble as much as a wild night on the town – if not more. Life For Rent would not be an album that you would play if you were on your way out to go clubbing. My recommendation would be to light a few candles, dip the lights, slip into a hot bath and press play. Once you are lying in that hot bath, you might find that one or two songs on this album would send you to sleep. That’s not to say that they’re boring. It’s just that Life for Rent is rather like an adult lullaby, gently relaxing and coercing you into rest.
The other appeal for Dido’s music is that it is just so simple, both lyrically and in arrangement, Some music tends to be very convoluted with lyrics that feel horribly contrived. This is definitely not the case with Life for Rent.
In Stoned she sings:
“When you’re stoned baby, and I am a little drunk, and we make love, it seems a little desolate.”
There’s no obvious rhythm or structure to it all, but it just works. And it does so without sounding silly or forced. It feels personal too, and I like that. Lyrically, my favourite song is probably See When You’re 40, a progression of emotions as Dido realises that the person she wants isn’t quite what she hoped.
“And I’ve seen, tonight, what I’ve been warned about. I’m gonna leave, tonight, before I change my mind.”
If I had to pick out my favourite songs, then I would struggle because there are several songs on this album that I unconditionally adore. The first single White Flag remains a very strong contender. I love the arrangement behind this song, as though the music becomes more and more determined to stand by the sentiment of the song and its singer. White Flag remains one of my favourite songs of 2003 – a true anthem for those of us who are too stubborn to give up on a bad thing. The second single Life For Rent isn’t quite as appealing, if only because it had a hard act to follow, but still works very well. The aforementioned See You When You’re 40 is powerful stuff, and See The Sun could be a testament to either bereavement or separation. My least favourite track is probably Who Makes You Feel, which doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album and feels awkward.
I would recommend this album if you have enjoyed the two singles released so far and almost certainly if you bought the first album. For me, Dido is a breath of fresh air in a commercialised, insincere music industry where somewhere along the line we forgot to enjoy good music. Life for Rent is not a perfect disc, but it’s still beautiful. Go get it.
Recommended
Track listing:
1. White Flag 2. Stoned 3. Life For Rent 4. Mary’s In India 5. See You When You’re 40 6. Don’t Leave Home 7. Who Makes You Feel 8. Sand In My Shoes 9. Do You Have A Little Time 10. This Land is Mine 11. See The Sun
Dedicated to a very special friend Susan - wherever she might be.
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Life for Rent was always going to be a tough prospect for Dido--how to follow up the ... more
multi-million selling No Angel? On initial inspection, it sounds like she's decided to stick to the safe option--if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So, it's business as ...
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Jan 21st, 2004
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