It’s a chilly evening in late July, but the Paris Cat jazz club feels cosily intimate. Kristin Berardi is singing, and the audience is hanging on every word. Sometimes she’s playfully creative, stretching melodies and phrases into unexpected shapes; sometimes she’s achingly poignant, alighting on each word with exquisite tenderness.
Berardi is back in Australia for the first time since moving to Europe at the end of 2020. Her legion of fans would not have been surprised to see her selected for a prestigious teaching post at HSLU (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts) in Switzerland – but they’re extremely happy to have her back.
The 41-year-old is in high demand during her six-week visit, criss-crossing the country to fit in as many gigs as possible while also spending time with family in Queensland.
Jazz singer Kristin BerardiCredit:Creswick Collective
Moving to Europe fulfilled a long-held dream to live overseas – a dream Berardi lacked the confidence to chase when she was younger. “I’ve always been an excellent worrier,” she confesses with a laugh. “I think to [move overseas], you need a level of trust that it’s going to work, and maybe trust in yourself that you’ll figure it out. And somehow I never felt I could take the leap.”
Being a single mother to two young children – now 10 and 14 – created additional hurdles. “I knew I couldn’t just move somewhere and tell them ‘sorry kids, it’s beans [for dinner] again’ for the sake of my artistic journey. I didn’t see how I could possibly start again somewhere else … with dependents.”
Yet that’s exactly what she’s done. And while the move has involved many challenges, it’s also brought ample rewards. Berardi says the language barrier was the most difficult aspect, along with the loneliness of life in a new city – during a pandemic, no less – but that she and the children have discovered an inner strength they didn’t know they had.
“One minute I’ll be thinking ‘this is incredible; I’m so grateful to be here!’ Then something will happen, and I’ve got to rescue one of the kids or something, and I’ll think ‘I’m so alone; I can’t cope!’ Then I’ll look at the mountains and think ‘we’re so blessed!’ and everything’s fine again,” she chuckles. “So there’ll be moments where I feel completely in control, and others where I feel completely clueless. And I’m learning to navigate that space in between, where I realise I don’t always know what I’m doing – and that’s OK.”
In conversation, as in her music, Berardi is disarmingly open and honest about herself. It’s a quality that makes her songs and lyrics extremely potent – especially on her forthcoming album, The Light and the Dark. On it, every song and story is drawn from “real people, from real life”, addressing themes of betrayal, domestic abuse and unfulfilled longing as well as the joys of travel and self-discovery.
The music on the album (which she recorded in New York) is wonderfully appealing, but some of the subject matter is unflinchingly direct. “I’ve often wished that I were better at metaphors,” Berardi admits. “But I’ve come to the conclusion that if I have a platform – however small – maybe I should talk about some of these things.”
For the recording, she surrounded herself with musicians she could trust to take care of her songs and the sentiments behind them. Canadian jazz trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, a long-time mentor to Berardi, joined an empathetic New York rhythm section, with Australian bassist Sam Anning on board as producer.
Because the songs are so personal, and because Berardi allowed her thoughts and feelings to be closer to the surface than on any of her previous albums, she felt “extremely emotional” when the first single, A Lie, was released last month. But she’s resisting her usual reluctance to put herself forward and is ready for the album – and herself – to be heard. “I’m finally learning how to honour what I have made, and to celebrate its release into the world”.
Kristin Berardi performs as part of Both Sides Now: Celebrating the Songs of Joni Mitchell at Hamer Hall on Tuesday, August 9. She headlines a double bill with Sam Anning and Cannonball at The Jazzlab on August 12 and 13, and performs with Monash music students at The Count’s on August 17. The Light and the Dark is released in October on Earshift Music.
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