Dominique Fils-Aimé

Being eliminated in the 2015 semi-final round of La Voix didn’t thwart Montreal-born, Haitian descendent Dominique Fils-Aimé’s ambitions. Instead, she executed a grand plan – to release a triptych of albums spread over three years devoted to African-originated music, a single history of the journey from darkness to light, told in three parts: from the origins of blues in slave songs (2018’s Nameless), to the tenacity of jazz and the civil rights movement (the 2020 Juno-winning Stay Tuned!), and the healing freedom of soul and funk (2021’s Three Little Words). “Revolution Serenade” – a Fils-Aimé song title – encapsulates her wholly original, eclectic love letter to the African diaspora. Her ancient, tribal and buttery smooth vocals are matched by powerful and nuanced arrangements – layered harmonies, horn flourishes, tight string section shifts, tasty percussion – and her electric, entrancing stage presence. Her writing is fresh and powerful, exemplified by song titles “Constructive Interference” and “Gun Burial” and lyrics “cause I’m nameless, shapeless and faceless, nameless shameless and faithless,” “someone pulled the trigger – did I pull the trigger?” and ‘I thought you’d burned down paradise, in the blink of a random eye.’ Fils-Aimé is no song or style interpreter, rather a new queen of entrancing neo-soul.