Fans of British singer-songwriter Dido are used to waiting. When she first burst on to the scene it was via an unlikely source — as a sample on rapper Eminem’s hit track Stan. The sample he used was of a till-then little known track by Dido called Thank You, which had found its way into the background scores of films like the Gwyneth Paltrow-starrer Sliding Doors but had done little else to indicate how big a song it would be. Eminem came along, sampled the track in Stan and suddenly everyone wanted to know about the face behind that stunning voice.

Thank You featured on Dido’s 1999 debut album No Angel, a low-key affair that was full of so many good songs that it propelled itself to success without much need for marketing or hype. Tracks like Here With Me, Hunter, No Angel, Don’t Think Of Me all indicated that this was definitely no one-hit wonder. In no hurry to cash in on her newfound popularity, Dido retreated to the studio to work on her second album, Life For Rent, in 2003 and helped her achieve the rare feat of finding success in the US and UK markets.

Five years later, she returns with a brand new album. Safe Trip Home has been highly anticipated around the world. The singer has said in interviews that while she was in the studio she wanted to take the time to craft songs that meant something and she has been hard at work with the help of production heavyweights, including Brian Eno (U2, Coldplay) and her brother Rollo Armstrong (Faithless). The first listen off the new album comes in the form of the song Look No Further offered for free download at her official website. It’s all voice and strings and if you looked to Dido for easy listening, chill out sensibilities in the past then you will be surprised. The first single, the somber Don’t Believe In Love, can be previewed on the official site. These two initial releases indicate a quieter sound for the singer and it will be interesting to see what the rest of the album is like.