Contented mum Dido returns with a seductive contender
DIDO: Still On My Mind (BMG) Verdict: Slow-burning return ★★★★✩ SIGRID: Sucker Punch (Island) Verdict: Nature girl strikes gold ★★★★✩
DiDo got to the heart of the matter in 2013 when she called her fourth album Girl Who Got Away.
she had become a pop sensation after selling 40 million records, singing with Eminem and dominating the BRiTs between 2002 and 2004. she didn’t vanish completely, like country star Bobbie Gentry in 1981, but she’s kept her head down since she stopped touring 15 years ago.
A sensitive, sensible woman with no time for celebrity, she has resurfaced intermittently, but the albums were take-it-or-leave-it concerns.
her latest comeback isn’t quite a blockbuster to rival 1999’s No Angel — still the most successful debut album ever by a British woman — or its sequel Life For Rent. But it has one eye on propelling Dido, 47, back into the mainstream. she’s even touring to promote it.
As befits a singer who likes to keep things simple, it’s a cosy affair. Produced by her brother Rollo Armstrong, Dido’s vocals were recorded ‘on the sofa at home’.
on the surface, her contented disposition doesn’t make for compelling drama. Dig deeper, though, and still on My Mind begins to convince on its own terms. The search for enlightenment through music is at the heart of You Don’t Need A God, with Dido’s distinctive voice rising as if lifted on a current of warm air.
Married to author Rohan Gavin and now a mum, she celebrates her good fortune on the title track.
But it’s not all sweetness and light: she hints at past unhappiness on Walking By and takes creative licence to admit to an illicit one-night-stand on Latin dance number hell After This.
having avoided singing about motherhood in the seven years since her son stanley was born, she finally succumbs on atmospheric ballad have To stay, which closes the album.
striking a balance between her unconditional love for stanley and a premature contemplation of what his tricky teenage years might bring, it’s a fine finale to a slow-burning but fruitful return.
LiKE Dido, sigrid Raabe is honest about who she is. The Norwegian singer, 22, wears jeans and T-shirts onstage and sings in an icecool voice that comes across like a burst of Nordic air. she also writes dramatic yet catchy songs that are tailor-made for festival crowds.
high points of her excellent debut album include the hypnotic singles strangers and Don’t Kill My Vibe — a heartfelt riposte to the older producers who once dismissed her chances of making it big.
BOTH albums are out today. Dido starts a UK tour on May 26 at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow (gigsandtours.com). Sigrid, currently on tour with George Ezra, headlines her own shows in November (ticketmaster.co.uk).