– Customer review on 29/06/2011

This album is truly magical.From the first to the last, the sound calms the atmosphere. Her voice and song choices keep me yearning for more.I just wish I had of known of her sooner.I can't recommend this album enough to new Jazz devotees..what a special talent! She's sweet, sad, gutsy and joyful all rolled into one! Listening to this album brightens my day and soothes my frayed nerves. All I can say is "more..please!!!"

– Customer review on 30/05/2011

Melody Gardot released her first album, "Worrisome Heart", just last year and a thing of rare beauty it is.
But a year ago, much of the discussion about Melody Gardot centered on the way she'd recovered from a terrible road accident and had used music as a therapeutic lifeline.
She was an inspiration to people both in and out of music.
Now it seems that although she is at times still referring to her traumatic feelings of the tragic accident some 8 years ago, the confidence is evidently beaming out even more in this album.
This follow-up has a lot to live up to - and it succeeds.
This time Gardot has strings to swell her romantic sound, but her vocals are as beguilingly intimate as ever.
Now just 25-years-old, Melody has expanded on the rich jazz and blues influences of Worrisome Heart to create an intimate second offering : Melody has written all of the songs on the album (a stunning version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" is the only non-original tune).
Again she shows a flair for catchy, haunting melodies, poetic lyrics and sounds much more worldly wise than her young age would suggest.
This record mixes the more classic form of crossing Jazz and blues ("Baby I'm a fool/your heart is as black as night") with some almost suttle samba like beats (i.e. "Les Etoiles/who will comfort me").
If anything, her vocal breadth on this glossy follow-up is even broader. She has the confidence to tackle a bold interpretation of a standard like "Over the Rainbow" (here given a flightly Brazilian treatment). It is produced as an acoustic undertone along with settled and relaxed saxophone. The South American sound certainly gives the song a refreshing tone and all the components make for a stunning vocal performance from Gardot.
Her scat singing is thoroughly convincing, when it could easily stumble on the mountain of clichés that accompany the style, but it's her breathy, almost lisping tones that will be most likely to establish her as a voice to be reckoned with.
If comparisons must be drawn to Gardot's smooth and seemingly effortless vocal, no current artist makes the cut and it's the classy, sad voices of Julie London and Peggy Lee that echo through the years. The vocal-to-instrumentation audio dynamic is perfect throughout, thanks to the fantastic job and the subtle talent of the producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Herbie Hancock...).
Kudos to the shimmering orchestral arrangements from Vince Mendoza.
"With a warm voice and a sensitive way with a song, Phildelphia's Gardot mixes jazz and R&B with elegant string arrangements and acoustic guitar to beguiling, small-hours effect". -Q (Magazine)