Nameless Dominique Fils-Aimé

• 1 Strange Fruit 03:07
• 2 Birds 03:41
• 3 Home 03:06
• 4 Sleepy 03:21
• 5 Nameless 03:52
• 6 Rise 03:22
• 7 Unstated 02:07
• 8 Feeling Good 03:09
• Total Runtime 25:45

Info for Nameless

Dominique Fils-Aimé’s second album ‘Nameless’ draws inspiration from a poem by Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”. A writer, poet and civil rights activist, Angelou’s universal poem sends out a powerful message of hope in the name of those who are being oppressed and their ability to rise against injustice. Soothing, fiery, emotional, the album takes place overnight between dusk and dawn and pays homage to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity.

It took a year and a half to make this album during which Dominique Fils-Aimé researched the history and musical forms of blues and work songs and how African-American figures from the first half of the 20th century influenced the course of music. Dominique delves into the liberating force of the music that slaves engaged in at that time. “I wanted to understand how that music would make me feel and make my own representation of it,” she says.

‘Nameless’ is a socially engaged album in which Dominique lends her voice and rebellious energy to those oppressed. With the help of her best musicians, the album’s strong and uncluttered sound mainly relies on the use of drums, the upright bass, the guitar and keys to make room for Dominique’s sometimes smooth sometimes strong and firm voice backed by rich vocal harmonies.

Minimalistic and acoustic, ‘Nameless’ uses silence as an instrument for the music to breath and to accentuate subtle nuances, sometimes even unexpected sounds and the message that “silence was predominantly present at the time and needed to be broken, so how could we move forward? We needed to break the silence,” explains Dominique.

Dominique Fils-Aimé, vocals
Jacques Roy, bass
Laurent Saint-Pierre, drums, percussion
Jean-Michel Frédéric, keyboards
Étienne Mioussem, guitar
Laurence Möller, violin
Kevin Annocque, didgeridoo

Recorded at Studios OPUS in Assomption (Quebec)
Engineered by Jacques Roy
Produced by Jacques Roy

Dominique Fils-Aimé
Singer-songwriter from Montreal and of Haitian descent, puts the history of African-American music culture at the centre of her work, particularly in a trilogy of albums: "Nameless" (2018) explores the blues, "Stay Tuned" (2019) focuses on jazz - it won the JUNO for vocal jazz in 2020 - and "Three Little Words" (2020) is inspired by soul icons. "Three Little Words" was shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize and reached #2 on the Canadian charts. In 2022, she presented her show to a sold-out Théâtre Maisonneuve during the Montreal Jazz Festival and performed at double concerts in France, with Diana Krall in Marciac and with Melody Gardot in Vannes.

Booklet for Nameless