For 30 years already, Dominique A has set foot in French song. After a confidential first record, it was Inter’s playlist that made him explode into the ears of the public with his song “Le Courage des oiseaux”. He is then recognized as the bearer of a new genre, the minimalist song, with naked, intimate sounds, in French in the text and without necessarily pushing the voice. A musical genre that will bring artists like Mathieu Boogaerts and Silvain Vanot into its wake.
After his long years spent writing and singing, Dominique A returns with Some lightsa retrospective album of around thirty songs, the first half recorded with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, the second as a trio with Julien Noël on piano and Sébastien Boisseau on double bass. He covers his biggest hits, but also lesser known titles, accompanied by three new, unreleased songs.
Looking back to refresh
This new record doesn’t come out of nowhere. It was after a performance with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra that Dominique A was revived by the latter. Then the idea of Some Lights was born, an album of around thirty songs to look back on the singer’s thirty-year career. An impulse that comes at the right time: “I also wanted to be in a phase of repetition, to put back on stage some of my songs lost in limbo”.
And while some artists keep their eyes fixed on the future, Dominique A does not hesitate to look in the rearview mirror: “I like the idea of having built something, of having a base. I found it justified to look back a little after thirty years of songs, let’s say that it’s a way of refreshing the building. And then, these songs, I have an empathetic relationship with her. Besides, I am always more excited at the idea of playing old songs than new ones, on tour, since when I cover them with different musicians, they will revive them, revivify them.
Dominique Finally released?
In his early days, Dominique A considered his body as an enemy. “I wanted to be some sort of vocal ghost. I liked this idea of being just an incarnation.” However, he has had plenty of time to change and evolve. “My voice? It got better when he started to “stop worrying about it,” he admits.
Today, he takes real pleasure in interpreting his texts: “being without a guitar for an entire concert feels like a vacation to me. I can express myself physically, tell a story, even if you don’t want to miss a beat. What I like about the song is the connection between words and music. This is also what stimulates me and the presence of the orchestra is more exciting and supportive than anything else. And then, the guitar can be a hindrance to interpretation, just as interpretation sometimes oppresses the guitarist’s playing. It’s not Jeff Buckley who wants”.
Sound clips
- Archive of Jacques Brel interviewed on RTS, April 2, 1966
- Chanson : The courage of birdsfrom the retrospective album Some lights by Dominique A, 2024
- Chanson : Humanityfrom the retrospective album Some lights by Dominique A, 2024
- Chanson : Goodbye my lovefrom the retrospective album Some lights by Dominique A, 2024
Dominique A will be on tour with Sébastien Boisseau and Julien Noël during 2025, the dates can be found here.
He will also be in concert with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra on Saturday November 30, 2024 at the Auditorium de Lyon 6 in Lyon and on Sunday December 1, 2024 at the Philharmonie de Paris.
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