Dido

[Serena]

Pre-order album on iTunes/Amazon
Wed 1st Oct, 2008
You can now pre-order Dido's third album, Safe Trip Home, on CD from Amazon stores worldwide and on download from the US iTunes store (other iTunes stores will follow soon).

To buy the CD from Amazon, click on your country below:

- UK
- US
- Canada
- France
- Germany
- Japan

Meanwhile, if you pre-order the album from the US iTunes store, you will instantly receive Dido’s new single, Don’t Believe In Love. Two digital versions are available: a standard version and a deluxe edition which contains three bonus tracks For One Day, Summer and a remixed version of Northern Skies, a video for Don’t Believe In Love, digital liner notes, plus the pre-orders only track The Day Before The Day 5/4. Click below to order now...

- Deluxe version
- Standard version

UPDATE: You can also pre-order both versions of the album from Australian iTunes here.

9 Comments - Add A Comment

[Serena]

WELCOME TO THE DIDO NEWSLETTER 
 
Hello Noemi and welcome to The Dido Newsletter. Over the coming weeks and months we'll be in touch every once in a while to give you all the latest news and happenings as Dido prepares for the release of her third album, Safe Trip Home. To kick things off, we've got a competition for you...


WIN A SIGNED COPY OF DIDO'S NEW SINGLE
Would you like to win a promo copy of Dido's new single, Don't Believe in Love, personally signed to you? If so, then all you have to do is send us an email to competitions@didomusic.com by Wednesday October 8th, with your name and address. One randomly-selected winner will receive the signed CD.


STUDIO VIDEOS ON DIDOMUSIC.COM

Head over to the official site to check out our exclusive, three-part film showing Dido and various contributors in the studio making Safe Trip Home. As well as hearing Dido talking about the album, you'll be able to hear sneak previews of several of its songs. Also at the website, you can read the official biog interview with Dido about the new album.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM
If the films and the biog leave your appetite suitably whetted for the album, then you might like to know that you can now pre-order your copy of Safe Trip Home from Amazon stores across the world - that way you'll receive it as soon as it's out. Click on the links below for your country's store...

UK / US / Canada / Germany / France / Japan
We'll also have news of an iTunes pre-order soon. 
 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See you next time.

Dido HQ

ps - The exclusive picture you see in this mailer is from a new press shoot Dido did recently - it was taken by photographer Kayt Jones. Look out for more shots from the session on didomusic.com. 

[Serena]

Unfortunately, due to manufacturing delays, the release of Safe Trip Home has had to be moved back a couple of weeks. It will now be released on November 17th worldwide (November 18th in the US). We're really sorry about this (it's as frustrating for us as for you).

The release date for Don't Believe In Love remains the same (download on 26 October and CD on 27 October).

[Serena]

Grafton Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFyxDvGocBk

[OLOROSO]

bonita voz, canciones relajadas y tranquilas para tener un tiempo de olvidarse de todo y escuchar un poco de musica.

[Serena]

Another Dido picture
Mon 6th Oct, 2008
Hey folks. We thought you might like to see another of Dido's new press pictures, as taken by photographer Kayt Jones

[Serena]

UK iTunes album pre-order opens
Tue 7th Oct, 2008
The iTunes pre-order for Dido's new album, Safe Trip Home, is now open, with two different versions of the album available.

The standard version features The Day Before The Day (5/4) as a pre-order only bonus track as well as the Don't Believe in Love video. The deluxe version contains those bonuses plus three extra tracks; For One Day, Summer and a remixed version of Northern Skies.

Pre-order either version and you'll receive the track Grafton Street now.

[Serena]

Hello again Noemi. We're pleased to announce that, on October 19th, Dido is hosting an exclusive playback of Safe Trip Home in a top-secret European location. We have tickets to this very special event to give away to you folks. Not only that, our 5 lucky winners (and their guest) will receive travel to and from the playback - no matter where in the world they live - plus accommodation. To be in with a chance of winning, simply click here, fill out the form and then cross your fingers tightly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SAFE TRIP HOME RELEASE DATE MOVES TO NOV 17TH
Unfortunately, due to manufacturing delays, the release of Safe Trip Home has had to be moved back a couple of weeks. It will now be released on November 17th worldwide (November 18th in the US). To help keep you going until then, we've added one of the album's absolute highlights - Grafton Street - to the music player on didomusic.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM ON ITUNES
The iTunes pre-order for the new album is now open, with two different versions of the album available. The standard version features The Day Before The Day (5/4) as a pre-order only bonus track as well as the Don't Believe in Love video. The deluxe version contains those bonuses plus three extra tracks; For One Day, Summer and a remixed version of Northern Skies.

 Pre-order either version and you'll receive a track now (Grafton Street in Europe, Don't Believe In Love in the US). Click the links below for more info and to pre-order...

- UK Deluxe version
- UK Standard version
- US Deluxe version
- US Standard version
- Germany Deluxe version
- Germany Standard version
- France Deluxe version
- France Standard version 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DON'T BELIEVE IN LOVE SIGNED PROMO WINNER
The winner of the competition in last week's mailer was Lesley N from Australia, who will receive a signed copy of Dido's new single in the post soon. Thanks to all of you who entered.

See you next time,

Dido HQ

[Serena]

We're pleased to announce that, on October 19th, Dido is hosting an exclusive playback of Safe Trip Home in a top-secret European location. And we have tickets to this very special event to give away.

Not only that, our 5 lucky winners (and their guest) will receive flights to and from the playback - no matter where in the world they live - plus accommodation. To be in with a chance of winning, simply click here and fill out the form.

UPDATE: Yes, in reference to the comments below - the prize really is a trip from anywhere in the world, including flights and accommodation. Best prize since Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we reckon

[Serena]

Letra Grafton Street

no more trips to grafton street, no more going there
to see you lying still while we all come and go
no more watching sunsets that seem like summer’s holding on
no more standing quietly at your window
no more driving down your road, wondering when you’ll be home
and no more peace when they all leave and leave us two alone

and time we always lose is finally found here with you
my love i know we’re losing but i will stand here by you

no more calling friends from the car, saying i don’t know when i’ll be there,
but i’ll do my best to come
no more letting you warm my hands, no more trying to take it in
no more saying goodbye for the last time again
no more saying goodbye for the last time again

and time we always lose is finally found here with you
my love i know you’re leaving but i will stand here by you

no more trips to grafton street, no more going there
no more sitting up all night waiting for any word
nothing’s left that’s safe here now nothing will bring you home
nothing can bring us the peace we had in grafton street

[Serena]

Look No Further

i might have been a singer
who sailed around the world
a gambler who wins millions
and spent it all on girls

i might have been a poet
who walked upon the moon
a scientist who’d tell the world
i’d discovered something new

i might have loved a king
and been the one to end a war
a criminal who drinks champagne
and never could be caught

but among your books, among your clothes
among your noise and fuss, i’ve let it go

i can stop and catch my breath
and look no further for happiness
i will not turn
cos my heart has found its home

everyone i’ll never meet
and the friends i won’t now make
the adventures that there could have been
and the risks i’ll never take

but among your books and among your clothes
among your noise and fuss, i’ve let it go

i can stop and catch my breath
and look no further for happiness
and i will not turn again
cos my heart has found its home

[Serena]

It's five years since Life for Rent, Dido's nine-million selling follow-up to 2001's 12-million selling debut No Angel, so you might wonder what's been taking so long. The answer, judging by her third studio album Safe Trip Home, is that Dido has been taking some time to mature, both musically and emotionally. Where Life For Rent was a series of snapshots from the life of a newly single girl (one reviewer called it the musical equivalent of Bridget Jones's Diary), Safe Trip Home is overwhelmingly coloured by the death at the end of 2006 of her father.

Dido Safe Trip Home (Sony) £12.99 Not that it's a gloomy album, but these songs are noticeably more reflective, their themes of longing and absence rooted deeper than the caprices of romantic love, and consequently it feels more serious than her previous work. The outstanding song of the album is the piercingly beautiful, Celtic-flavoured 'Grafton Street', a six-minute hymn to loss co-written with Brian Eno and featuring Mick Fleetwood on drums. Listen to it once and it will catch at your heart as a wrenching lament for a lover who will not return. Listen to it again knowing it's an account of visiting her father during his last illness and death ('My love, I know you're leaving, but I will stay here with you') and I guarantee you will be bawling your eyes out uncontrollably long after the album has finished. There's an honesty and depth to this song that you can't fake, even if you tend to the opinion that Dido's distinctive cracked falsetto generally has a limited emotional range.

But that light, husky sweetness lends itself well to intelligent mainstream pop, and this album has benefitted from time spent in LA at the studio of Jon Brion (producer of Fiona Apple, Kanye West and Rufus Wainwright), who co-produced the album alongside Dido and her brother and long-time collaborator Rollo Armstrong. Brion is also responsible for a number of the sumptuous string arrangements that swell the sound to rather grandiose levels on songs such as 'Let's Do the Things We Normally Do' and the first single, 'Don't Believe in Love', but Dido's own musical contribution is formidable: she plays keyboards, drums and/or guitar on most of the tracks. The lilting recorder solo that carries 'Grafton Street' to its haunting conclusion is apparently played on the same instrument she played as a student at the Guildhall School of Music.

The other notable contribution is from Citizen Cope, a Brooklyn-based guitarist, DJ and keyboard player, who duets on the laid-back 'Burnin Love', the grit of his voice providing a welcome contrast with hers. The nine-minute closer, 'Northern Skies', co-written with Rollo, is the nearest Dido has ever come to poetry, experimenting with little Irish vocal quavers and an expansive musical landscape that makes the more traditional pop tracks such as 'Don't Believe in Love' sound unimaginative by comparison. 'Don't say how proud you are,' she pleads in 'Let's Do the Things We Normally Do', another song that addresses an inevitable last goodbye. But this album is a mature and thoughtful collection of songs and a fine memorial to her father, who would have been right to be proud.

[Serena]

 
Dido answers your questions
Mon 13th Oct, 2008
A little while ago, we asked you to send your questions in for Dido. Thanks to everyone who did - and thanks to Dido for emailing through her first bunch of answers. More answers coming soon. If you have an original and interesting question you'd like answered, ping it through to askdido@didomusic.com. Thanks.

Hey Dido, I wanted to know what's your favorite song from the new album?
Noel Jones
Dido replies: That changes every day and is the same with the other records. At the moment, though, I still love listening to it as a whole piece. I spent a while choosing the order of the 11 songs I picked (from a big bunch) and meant it to be a bit of a journey and so I'm still just putting it on at the beginning and going with it. Songs change for me as time goes on. That's one of the things I love about writing - how a song can change its meaning for me over the years even though I was being specific at the time.

What was the last concert you went to?
Dan from Massachusetts
Dido replies: The last thing I saw was Laura Marling doing an acoustic show in London recently. Really enjoyed it.

You wish someday see the Earth from the perspective of that astronaut of the album cover? Why you choose it?
Alexandre, Brazil
Dido replies: I would definitely love to see the earth from space if I got the chance one day. To see pictures of the earth from space reminds me how spectacularly beautiful the planet is, especially when it's in contrast to the darkness in space. And how together we all are on the planet. How everything and everyone I know and love is somewhere on the picture. I dream about floating up there and imagining the sounds, silence, sunsets, the speed of the earth spinning, sunrises, the cold, the depth of the stars. Everything! I chose the cover as the picture is one I have loved for a long time. It shows an astronaut (Bruce McCandless) trying out the first manned manoeuvre unit and he is basically the first man to go out there without cords attached as far as I can tell! (Obviously I'm not the expert). What an adventure.

[Serena]

Yes, this is another of the new press shots which has been taken by photographer Kayt Jones

[Serena]

Charity auction for album playback invite
Wed 15th Oct, 2008
As we revealed last week, Dido is hosting a very special playback of Safe Trip Home this weekend at a secret location. The competition to win tickets (plus travel and accommodation) has now closed, but you can still be there (and get your accommodation paid for) by bidding in a special charity auction for Oxfam, which is currently underway on eBay.