For a good two years after the release of her last album "My One and Only Thrill", Melody Gardot toured the world, rushing from continent to continent and from gig to gig. You would think that she would have had enough of traveling after that. But no, Melody remained restless and was keen for a change. She continued to travel on her own to get to know people and other cultures. She roamed the deserts of Morocco and the streets of Lisbon, visited the tango bars of Buenos Aires and the beaches of Brazil, and tried to capture some of the essence of all these exotic places for "The Absence" without giving up her very own musical identity.