Safe Trip Home (2008)

Dido's measured restraint can sometimes be a drag. But on her third album, that reserve seems just about right for a set of chilly songs that are all about feeling distanced — some of them about mere lost love, some about greater griefs, like her father's recent death. ''Don't look me in the eye more than you need to,'' she coos considerately; meanwhile, Safe Trip Home's co-producer, Jon Brion, masterfully adds brooding strings that suggest deeper passions at play beneath the resignation. The emotion in these sad, subtle songs seems inherent enough, though you may still find yourself wishing she'd allowed the slightest hint of it to creep into her voice. B

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