Dido

Of the healthy stable of producers and guests who guide Dido's third studio effort, it's producer Jon Brion (Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple) who does the heavy lifting, situating the singer within dense, velvety textures (including some lush string arrangements) that match the darker shade of her newfound emotional complexity. Even as the topics get weighty -- the death of her father among them -- her typically breezy disaffection keeps things fairly chilly. A late highlight comes in the intimate duet with New York DJ and producer Citizen Cope.

Providing the hook for Eminem's murder ballad "Stan" is an odd way for a gentle English
singer to launch a career. But Dido's featherweight soul has always harbored a dark side,
and her third set expands her wine-bar sound with shadows. Co-producer Jon Brion adds
cinematic breadth to songs about emotional crossroads: The strings-laden "Never Want to
Say It's Love" finds the singer gulping pills, and the Celtic brooder "Grafton Street,... More >