There was a glorious noir about Melody Gardot’s early stuff, informed by unspoken loss and a life-altering car-on-bike accident in 2003. The newest album by this Philadelphia chanteuse is different — more alive and ready to throw off the shackles of woe. The Absence is not necessarily joyous — there’s still melancholy in the arch of her new melodies and the strain of her vocals. “Breezy” is a better word for it — touched by the winds and rhythms of Brazil and bossa nova, she sings with glad-to-be-unhappy esprit through the sway of saudade. The deeply blue “Goodbye” and the sweetly samba-riffic “Mire” portray two sides of Gardot handsomely. Welcome into the sunlight, shady as it might be sometimes.
Sat., Sept. 29, 8 p.m., $37-$47, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.
