VINIL Universal Records Melody Gardot - My One And Only Thrill

BBC:  My One and Only Thrill is the spellbinding follow up to Gardot's compelling debut, Worrisome Heart, and eloquently confirms her as a supreme songwriting talent possessed of a truly sublime voice.

Gardot's effortless blend of soft-edged, late-night jazz and quiet, introspective blues is on exquisite display throughout, together with the swooning sashay of the melting, Stan Getz-like Les Etoiles. On The Rain, liquid piano, a gentle double bass line that quietly ebbs and flows, and a keening tenor saxophone cushion Gardot’s poetically lovelorn lyrics and hushed vocal delivery to heart-stopping effect. The album's title track is a 4am-in-the-morning confessional masquerading as a bittersweet ballad that lingers long in the imagination.

Gardot acquits herself with the unfettered precision and unobtrusive panache of a born lyricist, each of the 10 original songs here a masterclass in miniature. Deep Within The Corners of My Heart dances with all the knowing elegance of Bacharach & David; Baby I'm A Fool is Sinatra during his soulful, self-doubting Point of No Return/No One Cares period; Who Will Comfort Me offers a defiant take on Carmel’s Bad Day; Our Love Is Easy is the standout track on the album, an instant classic and a love song of timeless sophistication.

Musically, Gardot clearly believes more is less, the acoustic signature deceptively simple and straightforward but managing to make bass, piano, sax and percussion sound like an orchestra.

Rounding things off – and subtly underlining the album's abiding upbeat afternote – is a sweetly pastoral but resolutely unsentimental take on Somewhere Over The Rainbow cosseted in a perfectly proportioned, sunny Brazilian samba.

A1 Baby I'm A Fool 3:31 A2 If The Stars Were Mine 2:50 A3 Who Will Comfort Me 4:57 A4 Your Heart Is As Black As Night 2:43 A5 Lover Undercover 4:26 A6 Our Love Is Easy 5:29 B1 Les Etoiles 3:20 B2 The Rain 3:23 B3 My One And Only Thrill 6:12 B4 Deep Within' The Corners Of My Mind 3:22 B5 Over The Rainbow 4:33 B6 If The Stars Were Mine (Orchestral Version) 3:14