Dominique Fils-Aimé is a singer-songwriter from Montreal who, following her participation in the TV show The Voice in 2015, released her self-produced and self-written debut EP, RED that same year. Heavily influenced by the soul icons of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, Dominique draws her musical influences from artists such as Billie Holiday, Etta James and Nina Simone.
Her latest album, Nameless was released in February this year and draws inspiration from a poem created by the writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. Entitled Still I Rise the poem sends out a universal and powerful message of hope in the name of those who are being oppressed, inspiring them to rise against injustice. The album takes place overnight between dusk and dawn and “pays homage to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.” (extract from Bandcamp)
In the 18 months it took to complete the album, Dominique spent a great deal of time researching the history and musical forms of blues/work songs, exploring how African-American figures from the first half of the 20th century influenced the course of music. The album is minimalist by nature, expressing so much with so little and places emphasis on vocal layering and their harmonies; also using silence as an instrument which allows the music to breathe, accentuating subtle nuances as Dominique explains on her Bandcamp page how, “silence was predominantly present at the time and needed to be broken, so how could we move forward? We needed to break the silence.”
Rich and smooth with its bluesy tones and mellow vocal layers, Rise appears on Dominique’s new album and can be heard above.
Listen/purchase the rest of Nameless from here
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