Dido LIFE FOR RENT (Arista)

It’s almost impossible to imagine Eminem’s stalker-tragedy hit "Stan" without the loop of Dido’s "Thank You," which leavens the rapper’s paranoid torment with a spot of afternoon-tea relief. But the song’s success doesn’t make producer Mark the 45 King’s singling out Dido any less unlikely, since No Angel, the English songstress’s 1999 debut, is barely distinguishable from the loads of contemporary chill-out electronica and female-fronted folk-pop it subsequently outsold. So on Life for Rent, No Angel’s follow-up, Dido and her producer brother Rollo (of British dance outfit Faithless) showcase what Eminem teased out of her music: its gauzy, rainy-day melancholy and its head-nodding rhythmic bedrock. The singer gets down to business straightaway, floating the opening track’s clumsily worded lyric ("I know you think that I shouldn’t still love you") over a Dr. Dre–like bass ’n’ drum figure, then dressing the chorus up with passive-attack strings and tasteful synth squiggles. That formula never really varies throughout Life for Rent, but there’s a great stoned-soul gem called "Who Makes You Feel" buried in the middle that finds Dido digging in and moving beyond bland coffeehouse electro-organic folk.