We grabbed Grammy-nominated songstress Melody Gardot for a chat after the debut London live performance of her forthcoming album at Freemasons Hall.
1. The body is an instrument. Where language falls short of explanation, the mouth, hands, hips – you name it – can all express exactly what needs to be said. Words don’t tell a big enough story anyway. Body posture tells more.
2. Touring offers a skimmed perception of the places you go. You see a city for a day, usually from the back of a bus window, coffee in Milan or sushi in Tokyo. I wanted to take a moment to breathe, to cook and to spend some time sleeping in the same bed for more than one night.
3. Being a part of things that are ordinary is sometimes extraordinary. I saw daily life in the places I went, and that gave some realism, and often surrealism, to what was happening.
4. Absence and presence are the same thing. Just as light or darkness cannot be defined without the other, the absence denotes the presence and vice versa. I called my new album The Absence but it could be called The Presence and the meaning would be the same.
5. The feeling of ‘saudade’ can’t be defined in the English language. A leave of absence from a person or place you love is something you do willingly. It’s not sadness, with its negative connotations, where you feel like a victim. Like ‘saudade’, it is a longing you feel because you choose to.
6. When something falls at your feet, you make a choice. In Portugal, a pigeon literally did just that. I picked her up and that was it, I was going to tend to her until she was better. We were in a culture where she was considered worthless so everyone told me I was ridiculous – and I was! But it proves…
7. …With a little bit of love, kindness and attention anything can be healed. I was hit the same way [Melody was knocked down by a car and her ongoing recovery has been put down to using music as a therapy]. I saw in her eyes the fear of being abandoned. Like I mentioned about the physicality of the body, it speaks without language.
Interview: Tom Kihl. ‘The Absence’ is released May 28th
