Album of the Day — January 13
Melody Gardot — Sunset in the Blue — 2020
Melody Gardot — Sunset in the Blue — 2020
13.January.2021
Melody Gardot
Sunset In The Blue
2020
Recording a new album, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in various studios worldwide, using unemployed musicians from around the world on one song — “From Paris with Love” — collaborating with rock legend Sting, all during a pandemic is no easy task.
Nonetheless, on Sunset In The Blue, Melody Gardot accomplishes all of that and more.
Few do the kind of jazz/torch singing that Gardot does, and certainly, even fewer do it at the same level.
On Sunset In The Blue, just as she has on other albums, Gardot sings in both English and French. She even dips into some Portuguese with “Um Beijo” and “Ninguem, Ninguem.”
Remaining true to torch song vocalization, she sings with a seductive purr and confidence that may make your heart melt and some other parts of your anatomy indurate — this may depend on your gender.
This is Melody Gardot’s fifth album, and her third for Decca Records and her third collaboration with producer Larry Klein. This collaboration continues to resonate so well because of Klein’s production skills and his collaborations as a musician and producer with some of the most influential music’s most influential names.
As a bass player, he played on Peter Gabriels’ So, Robbie Robertson’s self-titled debut, Don Henley’s Building the Perfect Beast, and others.
As a producer, Klein has produced Joni Mitchell (as well as her husband from 1982–1994), Madeleine Peyroux, and Herbie Hancock.
While Klein’s deft production touch is present here on Sunset in the Blue, make no mistake, this is Gardot’s show.
For evidence of this, listen to the title track, written by Gardot and Jesse Harris. Vocally, Gardot sounds as though she is channeling Billie Holiday as she saunters callously on and nonchalantly turning her back on her lover — as if it was pre-destined to end:
Sunset in the Blue
When I look back on all the roads
We’ve traveled on
It makes me smile
Although I do tend to forget
Your cadent eyes
After a while
Another dream begins to fray
So my love, another day
Another sun sets in the blue
Oh my love, what can we do
To stop it all?
On collaborating with various musicians around the world and having them send their parts electronically, Gardot said this:
“It is so important that we come together in this moment where there is a deafening silence happening in the arts…we are part of one large family (artists, musicians, singers, painters…) and this album is a testament to that collaborative spirit; a smorgasbord of talent all in one place, and living proof, that even now, we can use the numerous resources we have to break traditional ways of thinking about recordings, if just for the simple sake of continuing to move forward and create great music…”
It’s worth noting this wasn’t exploitive; Gardot insisted the musicians were paid what a standard UK studio musician would make their time and expertise.
For the French and Japanese editions of Sunset In The Blue, the album features a collaboration with Sting, “Little Something.” While the song is not on the American release, it can be found on Sting’s 2020 Duets album.
On his collaboration with Gardot, Sting said:
“This new song… has a simple and infectious joy, and it was so much fun to trade vocals with the exquisite Melody Gardot. I hope you can hear the smile in our voices.”
Sunset In The Blue does what the best of all music does, regardless of genre, it takes you out of the present and transports you somewhere else. And these days, that’s important.