Air’s JB Dunckel Releases Solo Piano Debut Album ‘Paranormal Musicality’.
AIR’s JB Dunckel releases solo piano debut, Paranormal Musicality
Dunckel’s first album on Warner Classics is now available on CD, LP and all streaming platforms
Listen HERE
Today [19 January], JB Dunckel, a landmark figure in electronic music in both his solo career and as part of the French duo AIR, releases Paranormal Musicality, his first recording project as a pianist and composer. Listen HERE.
For Dunckel, who signed a recording contract with major classical music label Warner Classics last year, this album marks an important moment of personal reinvention.
Paranormal Musicality embraces free, delicate, and ambitious forms of piano improvisation. Between 2019 and 2022, JB Dunckel carefully arranged a set of microphones around the piano in his studio and used them to record hundreds of spontaneous free performances. The 18 instrumental pieces on the album are formed from nearly 250 melodies captured in these sessions, with each work recorded in a single, unedited take.
Filled with images of a world where nature pulses and breathes, these works reflect everything the musician has ever written and loved. Primarily, the project celebrates the piano as an instrument that has accompanied Dunckel since his childhood. He formed a particularly close connection with his piano teacher from music school and continued to learn from her throughout his electronic career until she passed away in 2003. The very title of this album, Paranormal Musicality, is a tribute to her spirit and enduring influence on his music.
AIR, the French musical duo Dunckel formed with Nicolas Godin, sold more than 4 million albums worldwide, with their best-known releases including their critically acclaimed debut album, Moon Safari (1998) and the score to Sofia Coppola’s cult classic, The Virgin Suicides (2000). These albums have since accumulated hundreds of millions of streams, with Moon Safari certified as Double Platinum in the UK and “Playground Love” racking up over 70 million streams on Spotify alone.
In 2024, Dunckel and Godin embark on an anniversary tour celebrating 25 years since Moon Safari’s release, which includes a performance at London’s Coliseum on 24 March.
Paranormal Musicality is available now via Warner Classics on CD, LP and streaming platforms.
Listen to the album HERE.
Paranormal Musicality
JB Dunckel
SHRM: 5054197797583
Dolby Atmos: 5054197797712
Dolphin
Prelude Marin
Egerie
Shine
Key Games
Playjoy
Forest
Follow
Melo Walk
Woods on Fire
Echoes
Spring Emotion
Yokai
Sun Stone
Ballade Oiseau
Cellar Door
Big Free Holy
Desintegration
JB Dunckel
On his own and with groups such as Air, Starwalker, and Tomorrow's World, Jean-Benoît Dunckel is a mastermind of stylish, sensual, and ethereal pop. Before becoming a professional musician, he studied maths and physics and played in the band Orange, which also counted Nicolas Godin among its members. Once Orange disbanded, Dunckel and Godin formed Air in 1995 and the duo soon earned acclaim for 1998's debut album Moon Safari and the soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's 2000 film The Virgin Suicides.
While he and Godin worked with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her 2005 album 5:55, Dunckel embarked on a solo career, choosing the moniker Darkel as a twist on his surname, which means "dark" in German. Darkel's self-titled 2006 album shared the hazy atmosphere and lush synth passages as his Air work, but also explored Dunckel's fondness for more straightforward pop and rock. In 2009, he composed the score for the film Cyprien.
When Air went on hiatus following 2012's Le Voyage Dans la Lune, Dunckel founded the sci-fi pop act Tomorrow's World with New Young Pony Club's Lou Hayter, and Starwalker, a duo with Bang Gang's Bardi Johannsson. He also returned to Darkel with 2015's Man of Sorrow EP and composed the soundtrack for the film The Summer of Sangailé. In 2016, Air reunited for a tour supporting the career retrospective Twentyears. In 2018, Dunckel released H+, his first album under his own name.
Warner Classics & Erato:
Based in Paris, Warner Classics and its sister label Erato together comprise one of the world’s leading global classical music recording companies, with an artist roster covering all genres of classical music. It is home to the fabulous classical music catalogues from EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, Teldec and Erato, featuring many iconic albums which have made history in the world of the record industry. The company boasts an unrivalled catalogue of legendary artists – Maria Callas, Herbert von Karajan, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Maurice André, Jacqueline du Pré, Otto Klemperer, Samson François – and of international superstars such as Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Nigel Kennedy, Hélène Grimaud, Natalie Dessay… amongst many others.
Today, the labels exclusively record acclaimed artists such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Piotr Anderszewski, Alison Balsom, Gautier Capuçon, Joyce DiDonato, Philippe Jaroussky, Bertrand Chamayou, Alexandre Tharaud, the Quatuor Ébène, Beatrice Rana, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Emmanuel Pahud, Vilde Frang and Augustin Hadelich. They nurture upcoming talents such as Jakub Józef Orliński, Fatma Said, Marianne Crebassa, Lea Desandre, Sabine Devieilhe, Lucienne Renaudin Vary, Jean Rondeau, Yoav Levanon and pushing genre boundaries, the labels explore new horizons with modern classical artists such as RIOPY, Thomas Bangalter, Matteo Myderwyk, Carlos Cipa and Abel Selaocoe.