No Angel

No Angel, the debut album from British singer Dido (a sister of Faithless’ Rollo Armstrong), was actually released Stateside over a year ago, but it has taken until now to make an impact commercially.

Her constant touring in America has certainly aided Dido’s rise, but perhaps more telling is the use of ‘Here With Me’ as the theme tune for sci-fi television series, Roswell High, and the fact that no less a personage than Eminem heavily sampled her forthcoming single, the wonderful ‘Thank You’, on his song, ‘Stan’, from The Marshall Mathers LP.

Whatever the reason for No Angel’s ascent, though, we should be thankful that it and Dido got a second bite at the cherry. This is a fine collection of tunes that fit broadly into the genre of pop. Ironically, sometimes Dido herself sounds like a folk singer, whose lilting melodies have been welded somewhat against their will to more electric backgrounds, although the results are rarely short of interesting – the aforementioned ‘Here With Me’, ‘I’m No Angel’ and ‘Hunter’ being prime examples.

Sure it’s easy on the ear, veers dangerously close to MOR territory in parts and doesn’t exactly stretch any musical boundaries – but No Angel is brimming with well-crafted, mainly acoustic, pop tunes that are capable of soothing many’s a troubled head after yet another dog day afternoon.