Dido: 'Safe Trip Home'

It's been five years since Dido released her last album, Life For Rent, one of the fastest-selling releases of all time. In these uncertain record industry times, many artists feel compelled to churn out a new album almost every year - and some don't even last that long. But, having sold 22 million copies of her first two albums, Dido has earned the right to exercise a bit of creative freedom.

Of course, Dido's huge success has come at a price, with critics often dismissing her as a purveyor of "dinner party music". This was probably true of some of the lighter moments on her earlier albums, but Safe Trip Home has a markedly more mature sound, lyrically superior to its predecessors and lined with raw emotion. Much of the album was written and recorded after the death of her father, who succumbed to auto-immune disease Lupus in 2006, and the pain of this loss runs through its core.

The album opens with trailer single 'Don't Believe In Love', a song whose simple arrangement and subtly insistent melody sets the tone for the rest of the album. 'Quiet Times' and 'Never Want To Say It's Love' demonstrate the more mature, introspective sound that characterises Safe Trip Home, while 'The Day Before The Day' and 'It Comes And Goes' remind us she's no songwriting slouch. It's not all emotional though - 'Us 2 Little Gods' is a more upbeat offering that's just crying out to be performed on Strictly Come Dancing.

But the album's standout track is undoubtedly Brian Eno collaboration 'Grafton Street', a song about her late father that shows Dido at her very best – deeply personal, desperately sad and heartbreakingly honest. The harmony and Celtic-infused percussion merge to provide a haunting arrangement that, coupled with her lyrics, might just bring a tear to the eye.

Easy as it is to mock, it's Dido's understated cool that makes her such a gem. Rather than trying to shift her albums by racking up column inches in the tabloids, she's connected with record buyers through her songwriting and vocal ability. And though it often sounds effortless, her music is clearly the result of much hard graft - she plays recorder, bells, omnichord and even the drums here, as well as co-writing and co-producing every track. Safe Trip Home is the result of five years well spent.