The Absence

To quickly address other reviewers issues with "quality control" on the manufacture of this disk. First off the "clicking" on track 3 "So Long"...RELAX people, it's the sound of Melody's fingernail tapping. What amazes me is that people think it's a defect. It's in time with the music for crying out loud. Secondly...the "phantom 12th track"...lots of artists add things to their final track long after the listed tracks ends. You can say you don't care for this choice, but to suggest there is something wrong with your disk is ludicrous. You do not need a "full refund".As to the music, a select few folks have rated this album 1 star. They want the "old formula" from this amazing artist. It's unfortunate that they absolutely refuse to budge on the sound of an artist. If you want "formula", check out the millions of other artists who won't step out of the box. Diana Krall's amazing disk "Quiet Nights" got these same comments from listeners who only want the "same old thing" over & over & over. Jazz music, bossa-type music, world music...they all share common threads that are explored on this disk. Is it really so far removed from the "old" Melody? I've enjoyed all her releases and for me, "The Absence" is my favorite by far and it only grows on me more each day I listen to it. Her voice perfectly fits this style of music. We'd all be in a better frame of mind if more artists could create something this beautiful. In this hectic world weary environment we all live in, it makes my day a bit sunnier whenever I listen to it. Something to be thankful for because of this wonderful artist.1. Mira - Upbeat & sunny. Will cheer your mood instantly.2. Amalia - Wonderful acoustic guitar. Bouncy & sweet. Incredible chord changes.3. So Long - More great acoustic guitar & more beautiful chord changes.4. So We Meet Again My Heartache - An amazing sense of loss & longing. Beautiful strings. Her voice practically drips with the feelings that this song evokes.5. Lisboa - Lovely bells. Again the amazing colors of love & longing are sung by her voice. A nice male assist towards the end of the song.6. Impossible Love - A bit darker & sensual. Evokes thoughts of two lovers dancing with love & hate playing between them.7. If I Tell You I Love You - A dark carnival-esque ride as if a sultry she-demon is on the prowl. Haha!8. Goodbye - Another sassy dance of love & hate with great "wah wah" horns & Melody's voice trilling to a soft growl at times. A clarinet snakes around the organ.9. Se Voce Me Ama - Beautiful acoustic guitar & a wonderful duet with Heitor Pereira. Soft & lovely.10. My Heart Won't Have It Any Other Way - My favorite track after I saw the video of Melody & her photo shoot for this album. She looks utterly & profoundly beautiful in the video and more importantly, the music is utterly & profoundly beautiful as well. The video depicts her beauty & the fragility of life as she walks with her cane amid the roaring waves. It truly is amazing to see. If you close your eyes while listening, this piece of amazing music can transport you to a lovely otherworldly place. It can move you to tears for how beautiful it is.11. Iemaja - A nice upbeat bouncy offering to close the album. If this one doesn't get you swaying or dancing, nothing will. Smiles will abound!12. Untitled - Although tracked with song #11 almost 12 minutes later beyond silence, it begins with church bells, then a sinuey saxophone, funky bass & drums, some pops & scratches as if from an old LP, bizarre guitars...some type of experimental psychedelic early 70's vibe...ending with the bells & crowd noises as a car drives away. It would be interesting to know the history of this track & why it is on this album. Strange & interesting non the less.Bottom line...if Melody continues down this path in the future I'll be the first one aboard. Instead of just "singing a song", the way she interprets the vibe of each song is so utterly believable that you feel she's reaching deep within her soul to coax the words out with that amazing voice. I'll listen to this one on a regular basis for a long, long time to come. Sublime! Everything beautiful, wonderful & joyful that music can be, this album is.

I pre-ordered Melody Gardot's The Absence, being a boundless fan ever since I discovered her drift a few years ago. Her sense of music and things far less definable have happily wiped away a void I've had to contend with for too long, while constantly adding older and still older music to my collection and listening choices. Now, though, once again it's a wonder and delight to hear beauty that's new and fresh while still maintaining that tradition of newness and freshness. Plus I really dig her freaky departures and joyously so.(Is it 'tristeza' or 'triste' Melody sings early in Mira? Astrud Gilberto's Tristeza is my second-most played song in my iTunes.)I adore that aspirated h- and some vowels she sings: I wonder if it's hommage to her grandmother's influence. Her accent is thick Mid-Atlantic and an important feature of her distinctive talent. Her naturalness is uncanny. Oh, and the post-production doesn't remove her breath-takings. They are part of her singing, one of many dimensions in her voice. (Barbra's noisy breath-taking was always made invisible, so to say, and mercifully.)The Latin rhythms tap into my musical bias and enthrall me. She and the musicians cook. We feast. I want to say Melody Gardot is better than astounding, or better than anyone has already said. She's simply lovely.This Amazon Customer Review feature is impossible to overpraise. I was about to write to Amazon and request an exchange or a purchase credit until I read these reviews and Melody's response. When I got the new CD, I burned a copy for the car, but when the last track seemed to end and the disc didn't eject or stop, I assumed I didn't burn right, so I burned another, and concluded something was amiss. Tonight I listened to the original through a new stereo amp, heard the 'clicks and pops', let it play through the silence to determine if it was part of the recording, discovered the ending music, but still wondered if the disc was defective. Thanks to these Customer Reviews, I discovered the Truth. Okay: If you play the last track backwards, it begins with traffic and bells that sound backwards, and before the middle silence, the clicks and pops come early, but now they end with attacks but begin with nano sustains. I get it now.

If you were expecting the same type of album as "My One and Only Thrill" with the lush orchestration, you will be disappointed. But this album presents a very different and more upbeat side of Melody in that it has more of a Latin-flavored bossa nova feeling to it. Her voice, however, is still very smooth and sensuous. Among the standout tracks are the fast-paced "Mira," the pathos-filled "So We Meet Again My Heartache," the sensuous "Impossible" and "Voce Me Ama," the duet she performs with producer Heitor Pereira.There were two things that kept me from rating it 5 stars, however. As mentioned by the other reviewers, the vinyl-sounding hisses and pops in Track 3 ("So Long") detracted from the piece, and you have to endure at least 11 minutes of silence before you get to the bonus "hidden track." That's fine if you're listening to it on the computer where you can drag your cursor toward the end of the piece, but if you're listening to it in the car, the 11-minute pause can be rather annoying.All that being said, it's still a very enjoyable album and one I would highly recommend.

Excellent album, the pressing is great. The vinyl came a bit dirty, but after washing it is perfect.

Melody Gardot`s third album; there's a lot of influences at play on this one – most prominent is the Latin, bossa nova strain which pervades much of the music; I only got the standard (first) release of the disc, so I'm missing any bonus tracks - notably "La Vie en rose" – but one can't have everything.It's a quirky album, but one that quickly grows on one; Gardot is a very fine and creative composer/word-smith, but it is her personal and distinctive delivery one notices most - always seductively intimate and stylish.And since no-one else has noted it, I'd just like to praise the excellent arrangements/orchestrations by Ladd McIntosh which so subtly provide the settings for Ms. Gardot`s vocals.The hidden track "Chegue Journeyman" at the end of "Iemanja" the last (official) track on the disc clearly caught at least one reviewer out. The CD has a total running time of 57.51 - though the gap before the hidden track is obviously about 15 minutes of “dead air” - the only thing to spoil an otherwise very enjoyable album – I don't know why artist still do this, it's more a nuisance than a novelty now.

Un disco maravilloso que gracias a Amazon lo tengo en casa y ¡en vinilo!

Loved this album, track 3 a little noisy but another reviewer mentioned that is intentional (??) - I am new to Melody so having fun exploring her albums and her different styles, so much talent. The vinyl itself has a lot of static crackles, hoping a few cleans will sort that out (this is why I have only given 4 stars). The Cover Sleeve is beautiful and the vinyl it a lovely weight. Happy to have this in my collection.

Good one