Girl Who Got Away

Differences between Dido albums can be measured on a small sliding scale. She never changes her style but she does change her sound, however subtly. Girl Who Got Away, her fourth album and first in five years, differs from its predecessor, the meticulously woven Safe Trip Home. That was an album tailored for domesticity, while Girl Who Got Away is a soundtrack for a night out, going so far as to make space for a guest spot for Kendrick Lamar, the alt-crossover rapper du jour of 2013.

Differences between Dido albums can be measured on a small sliding scale. She never changes her style but she does change her sound, however subtly. Girl Who Got Away, her fourth album and first in five years, differs from its predecessor, the meticulously woven Safe Trip Home. That was an album tailored for domesticity, while Girl Who Got Away is a soundtrack for a night out, going so far as to make space for a guest spot for Kendrick Lamar, the alt-crossover rapper du jour of 2013.

Life for Rent doesn't offer anything that drastically different from Dido's debut album, No Angel – the dance beats are marginally fresher, the production is clean and new – but this predictibility is actually rather refreshing because the album delivers on its promise, unlike many sophomore affairs in 2003. That its promise is rather modest doesn't really matter, since Dido is successful at modest songs. She has a sweet, warm voice and a knack for tuneful modern folk-pop that sounds intimate while being confidently catchy and nicely atmospheric. In other words, it retains the feel of No Angel and its two big hits, "Here With Me" and "Thank You," without ever rewriting either song, but contributing songs like "White Flag," "Stoned," "Life for Rent," and "Do You Have a Little Time," which are nearly as memorable.