Dominique Fils-Aimé doesn’t do things like others. “From the start, I was warned: ‘You can’t make a trilogy of albums, that’s not how the industry works, instead launch singles !” When someone tells me I can’t do something, it makes me want to do it even more.” SO Our Roots Run Deephis suave new album released on Friday, marks the beginning of his second trilogy, this one turned inward, after a first exploring the roots of African-American music and the intergenerational traumas that have marked its history.
Jokingly, it was suggested to him that his third trilogy of albums should be one of triple albums. It would be better than logic, it would be numerological. “I like numerology, I like the number 3,” admits the singer-songwriter. “But above all I like to be in the studio as often as possible. I like to take my time to explore a theme, then invite the listener to follow her in her reflections of soul, R&B, funk and jazz.
“I find that we underestimate the ability of people to accompany us for longer than a song,” continues Dominique. I don’t want fleeting connections. It seems right to me to take the time to develop subjects over the long term by setting the benchmark for a trilogy, within which I feel free to create, while being coherent. I like the common thread of a project like that, I feel like I don’t know how to explain myself clearly when I feel pressed for time. »
Published in 2018, Nameless opened on Strange Fruita huge committed song popularized in 1939 by Billie Holiday which announced the civil rights movement in the United States, launched in the 1950s. It was with a position that the public would get to know Dominique Fils-Aimé, whose first trilogy accompanied Quebec in its own Black Lives Matter movement.
“Obviously, the theme of the first trilogy revolved around intergenerational trauma” accompanying the African-American experience. “But at the same time, we must also emphasize our intergenerational wealth, this is the emphasis that I wanted to put with this new trilogy, which I feel is like a new beginning,” affirms the musician. I’m more authentic there. I no longer talk about others, but about myself, who I am, what I believe. »
Roots
The musical style of Our Roots Run Deep delicately translates this return to oneself that Dominique makes: the thirteen new compositions are illustrated by stripped-down orchestrations which leave plenty of room for the performer’s muffled voice. Less clearly jazz, or soul, or blues, or funk, than the songs from his three previous albums were, the amalgamation of genres is subtle. It’s pop, in the background of which we hear the echo of jazz music – we will however clearly recognize the influence of doo-wop, due to the vocal arrangements, Dominique Fils-Aimé singing his own backing vocals, using his voice like a percussive instrument.
“For me, what I do will always be jazz, in the sense that my understanding of jazz is: ‘Do what you want'”, believes the musician, who insists on the creative freedom in which was imagined this album sporting a green cover, “a mixture of the light of the yellow album [Three Little Words, 2021] and the intimate and refined side of the blue album [Nameless].
” At the time of Nameless, my voice took up less space because I didn’t yet feel comfortable enough as a singer, she said. Today, I no longer have imposter syndrome. I play an instrument, my voice, and I play it with all my heart, highlighting on the album the repetitive side of my voice and the percussion. This is me, this is how I create, how I meditate, and I wanted people to be able to feel it. »
Dreams
Dominique Fils-Aimé hopes that the public will also feel it in her new show, which she will present on October 17 and 18 at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. A launch of the album is already planned in Paris — “a first in my career!” » she rejoices — and a US tour will be announced shortly. How far we’ve come in just five years!
“I myself am surprised by all the love I receive,” she admits. To be welcomed in this way by giving me the right to do what I want. I launched into it without any expectations, telling myself: “There’s a chance that it won’t connect with people at all, that my music won’t be accessible enough.” I admit to being surprised and grateful for the welcome, to the extent that in Quebec, there is a preference for music in French and for musical styles different from mine, more folk or rock. R&B and soul aren’t as much a part of the general culture here as they are in, say, the United States, but it’s fun to see that my work can be as well received here as elsewhere. »
“I feel super rich and privileged and I want to use my wealth, the wealth that was bequeathed to me, to contribute, in my own way, to building a kinder world, with people better connected to each other,” she continues. .
This connection is the meaning to be given to the root word which recurs in the title. Our Roots Run Deep, our roots run deep. They were musical on the first trilogy, they are human on this new album. Dominique illustrates it in a sylvan way, inspired by the mycorrhizal network, these links woven between the trees of a forest thanks to their roots and which form a “social” network that biologists have nicknamed the “Wood-Wide Web”.
“What matters most to me is connecting with people and feeling that I am contributing to meaningful social development, which leads to a more open society. Direct us, through music, towards healing, enveloping people in sound frequencies that do good. This is what I wish for us today: that we take the time to take care of ourselves, individually. »