Melody Gardot

--ABOUT THE RECORD--
"MY ONE AND ONLY THRILL"

The very nature of the title suggests something more than a love affair. Something greater than romance. That thing that keeps your heart beating even when it tells you that it shouldnt. The kind of love that burns and lingers in every corner of your mind. The sentimentality; the dreamlike state. The feeling of watching time stop the moment that love arrives. A rush of delightful intensity. A cardiac abnormality of the greatest kind. To feel a sensation that is far more compelling than anyone has words to describe.

Not simply love. Not simply romance. A thrill.

With lyrical sentiments such as "It's not hard to see, what you do to me is like a page right out of Ernest Hemingway", and occasional lush orchestral arrangements by Vince Mendoza, the album is like something out of a black and white movie. Offering a cinematic exploration in lyricism, it spans the spectrum of moods one might experience in the long and sometimes difficult journey to falling in love. Mostly though, it rests on the doorstep of longing and introspection, begging you to come along and watch the saga unravel. "How was I to know that this was always only just a little game to you? All the time I thought you gave your heart I thought that I would do the same for you....."

Produced by Larry Klein and recorded at Captiol Records in Los Angeles, the strings are an ambitious addition, but " a decision that I was incredibly excited to have come through. Vince is one of my favourite arrangers and furthermore has a great sensibility for soundscape. To work with Vince, Larry and all of the musicians on this record was an absolute dream."
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The story of vocalist Melody Gardot is as remarkable as any who perseveres against abject adversity. Born in New Jersey in 1985, she took up piano and played as a youngster on the nightclub scene of Philadelphia, influenced by jazz, folk, rock and pop musics. At age 19 she was a fashion student at the Community College Of Philadelphia.

But, on a fateful day, while riding her bicycle, the driver of a Jeep made an illegal turn, hurdling into Gardot and leaving her in the street for dead. Hospitalized for months with multiple head injuries and pelvic fractures, her love for music was the best therapy she could receive. While in her hospital bed, she wrote and recorded songs that would become the EP "Some Lessons." Upon her eventual release from intensive care, Gardot found the strength and determination to further her career as an artist. Blessed with a beautiful voice and grand insight as a songwriter, her cognitive powers slowly but surely became pronounced, leading to the independent recording and release of her debut CD, "Worrisome Heart," which was reissued in 2007 by Verve records. Her music could be described as a cross between Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy and Shania Twain, but goes deeper than mere pop convention. Gardot is hypersensitive to light and noise, thus she wears dark glasses, and uses a cane to walk. On stage she requires a special seating unit, and wears a Transcutaneous Electro-Nerve Stimulator, a TENS device, to assist in alleviating her neuralgic muscle pain. As amazing as her story is, what is more evident is that she posesses a blue style and persona that reflects not only her afflictions, but conversely the hope and joy of making personalized music that marks her as an individual and original. Though touring is difficult, she has been performing in major cities on the East Coast to support her recordings. -Michael G. Nastos (from allmusic.com)