Michelle Nicolle and Paul Grabowsky have been aware of each other for a very long time. As Michelle says, she ‘grew up’ watching Paul on television and was aware of his work with the great Vince Jones and others; somewhat later Paul became aware of Michelle’s trajectory toward becoming, in his words, ‘one of the greatest jazz singers Australia has produced’.

A few years back they began a conversation around songs they were drawn to, and it was immediately clear that their tastes converged at the melancholy, the testimonial, the heartbreak ballads that speak of love’s sometimes bitter ironies. The Covid lockdowns certainly helped them to focus on this project, one that led to the recording of their ABC Jazz album Noir, a collection of standards and originals that reveal sentiment rather than sentimentality, great beauty in deepest shadow, empathy and calm. As Paul puts it, ‘we have found a happy place in these sad songs, in which each shadow reveals new light’.