Writers on Track features Montreal-based, JUNO Award-winning singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé with peermusic. Dominique weaves the history of African-American musical culture into the core of her work, reflecting on the social realities that shaped the genres of blues, jazz, and soul. For her, nature serves as an anchor, a source of inspiration that offers metaphors to express the unique, yet interconnected, journey of being human.
What’s your favorite part of the songwriting process?
The freedom to create a song from scratch along with the meditative journey are my favorite parts of the creative process.
Feeling connected and tapping into a larger creative energy source and exploring where it resides within us, how it can expand through and out of us.
To birth, into physical existence, musical frequencies in which we can instill our emotions and intentions feels magical.
To translate a feeling into something tangible and perceivable in the material world is a bridge that connects us to ourselves, each other and the universe.
Creating that bridge is one of the most delightful meals my soul has ever tasted.
The creative process makes my cup overflow with unconditional love for myself and for others, translating in the form of Music.
Since I believe that creation is the essence of life and that we are all creators, the creative journey in songwriting feels like home.
What’s your biggest studio session highlight so far?
From my home studio (my couch haha) to Opus Studios (in Assomption, Quebec) where I record all of my albums, every studio session, every moment in the studio, feels like a highlight.
One moment that did stay with me though, was during the making of my first album, while recording the song “Birds’’.
I recall exploring sounds and playing with a piece of paper on which I had my lyrics written as I was trying to mimic the sound of birds flying away. That sound of paper rustling made it on the record!
The pleasure of exploring singular sounds, letting my imagination run wild where any object can be turned into an instrument, that lesson stayed with me.
The lesson that Joy and Creation live freely outside the box; I want to live there too.
The lesson that my inner child is a better artist than myself and that it’s now in charge of the creative process.
We do say “playing” music.
How much do current market and track trends impact your creative process?
The market and musical trends live in a separate world from mine. We do not interact.
I have no interest in them, if they tried to talk to me I would likely run away.
I do not want them impacting me or my Art for I wish to remain free and independent from them.
The market has nothing to do with the type of Art I wish to make because my goal is not to sell but to create authentically and intentionally. Releasing music is optional and this process of interacting with the market belongs to my beautiful team I love so much. I am forever grateful that they make it easier for me to not look in these directions.
Trends, to me, can partially belong to what is being done today / has been done yesterday, remaking something that already exists or imitating something in a new way.
I crave creating and being exposed to Art that presents the uniqueness of each human perspective and the collective consciousness and dreams of what tomorrow could be.
The market and trends feel like anxiety inducing noise to me, a noise that can distract us or drown our inner voice.
I don’t like noise, I enjoy the peaceful silence that allows me to hear and share what our hearts have to say.
Listen to Dominique Fils-Aimé on Amazon Music, Apple Music or Spotify.
