Azekel & Céline Dessberg
“Moon & I”
Thunderlightning Recordings (available via Bandcamp)
“Everywhere I go…”
Azekel & Céline Dessberg’s new song “Moon & I” sounds like a hopeful heart beating out of the chest and into the recording studio. It’s a slice of super slick nighttime jazz that happily bounces down the street until it finds an unsuspecting ear to lodge itself into. There’s something tricky to it. It feels like a lovers’ duet that could easily guide a first dance at a wedding, but is more about the “joys and pains of touring life,” according to Azekel.
“We had been spending some time in nature, and when we got in the studio we were messing around talking about our favourite jazz records,” Azekel wrote in a release. “Not long after, we just followed the vibe. James Casper was on drums, I was on guitar, and Céline was on the yatga.”
And even though “Moon & I” carries this simplistic style in the beginning with a bouncy bassline and guitar chords, Dessberg’s playing on the Mongolian yatga harp makes this song a grand duet. There’s something about how gentle and powerful her harp playing is at the same time, sweeping onto the track and becoming the star of the show before the voices of Dessberg and Azekel swap lines back and forth, joining in on the fun and singing in French and English as they go. (Azekel is based in London and Dessberg is based in Paris.)
If you’re into the work of Norah Jones at her most stripped down or retro-soul throwback artists like Jalen Ngonda and Leon Bridges at their most romantic, Azekel and Céline Dessberg’s “Moon & I” slides beautifully into any playlist alongside them.
Follow Midbrow Detroit on social media:
Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, X.
