Dominique Fils-Aimé - Nameless (2018) Hi Res

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.