“My World Is The Sun,” the new album by Dominique Fils-Aimé, resonates deeply. Released via Ensoul Records, the project confirms that the Canadian artist is consolidating her sonic trilogy while shaping a spiritual creative philosophy of her own.
As the second installment in the cycle that began with “Our Roots Run Deep” (2023), the album explores the creative process as an act of freedom. Dominique works from a place of vulnerability, letting jazz, soul, and blues intertwine organically. Her voice leads with a rich, warm tone and a texture critics have described as “absolutely incredible.” The production avoids excess, leaving space for the music to breathe and unfold with intention.
The album’s focus track, “Phoenix Rising,” captures the conceptual heart of the project. The song introduces an uncomfortable yet necessary duality that lies in the possibility of celebrating while still mourning. Dominique draws on the phoenix’s symbol to reflect on renewal and transformation, embracing the coexistence of life and death, both literally and metaphorically. “Free to reset, new day, new start, new moon, new me,” she says, inviting us to let the fire burn away outdated versions of ourselves.
Musically, “Phoenix Rising” blends nylon-string guitars, organic percussion, and a vocal crescendo that never resorts to excess. Dominique understands the power of restraint as much as the power of release. The song blooms, and that restraint is what gives it strength.
The visual universe surrounding the track reinforces this narrative. The two-part video connecting “Phoenix Rising” and “The River” unfolds as a continuous eight-minute piece. The result is a cohesive journey that underscores the album’s unified vision. Each song flows into the next, like chapters of the same spiritual story.
One of the record’s most significant moments arrives at the very beginning, when an original recording of Dominique’s mother, discovered on a 1970s cassette, opens the album. The work begins with a family memory and closes with Dominique’s reinterpretation of that same song, completing a cycle. The gesture evokes inheritance, continuity, and reconciliation with one’s origins.
With two JUNO Awards to her name and a stage presence that has taken her from Jazz à Vienne to the North Sea Jazz Festival, Dominique Fils-Aimé further solidifies her mature and coherent artistic identity with “My World Is The Sun,” grounding it in the belief that creation is an act of consciousness.
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photo credit: Vladim Vilain
