The AbsenceDecca ***

The persistent absence of clothing in her publicity photographs may suggest a flagging career but, in fact, New Jersey-born singer Melody Gardot doesn't need to abandon her dignity to get our attention. The songs, which she writes herself, are refreshingly authentic – bittersweet laments for discarded lovers and misplaced innocence – and she sings them in a honeyed, breathy voice that has real musicality and an emotional directness that recalls Edith Piaf. But what really elevates the songs on The Absence above the regular pop-jazz fare is the fine job producer Heitor Pereira has done of arranging them. Better known as a film composer and sometime guitarist with Simply Red, Pereira has transformed the bluesy, rather mannered style of Gardot's first two albums into an exotic melange of tango, fado, bossa nova and Weimar Cabaret, imbuing the whole album with a lush, cinematic air. A soundtrack for the summer, coming soon to a dinner party near you. melodygardot.com