The Girl Who Ran Away by Dido Review
It’s been over four years since highly acclaimed British singer/songwriter Dido Armstrong last released an album, and her latest album The Girl Who Ran Away shows she is in search of more ideas.
Her latest career move, four years in the making, proves she has recognised a lack of success in the last ten years, when her last US Billboard 200 top 10 album Life For Rent stunned the globe.
Life For Rent reached a staggering fourth on the US Billboard 200 in 2003, while 2008’s Safe Trip Home reached a meagre 13th.
But The Girl Who Ran Away, and adventurous electronic themed compilation, simply does not work with her tone of voice.
“No Freedom”- the album’s first song- shows Dido in typical fashion that brought her three ARIA number one albums and singles at the start of the 21st century, and appears the only potential Australian hit from the album.
Similarly to well-known hits “Thankyou” and “White Flag”, she shows her emotions towards a former partner in smooth fashion accompanied by beautiful strings and acoustics.
While electronic orchestration effectively portrays Dido’s emotions in the rest of the album, the tone colour is awkward with her vocal style.
With the exception of the clever “Let Us Move On”, featuring US rapper Kendrick Lamar, Dido’s choice of synthesised sounds is hard to listen to behind her elegantly high pitched voice.
The title piece “The Girl Who Ran Away”, at song number two, gives the listener a terrible perception of her electronic experiment with the album, and “Happy New Year” has far too little texture to promote happiness and an awful organ tonality.
While Dido’s efforts and adventure with an alternative them and style must be commended, computerised instrumentation is simply unsuitable
for her.
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