Atmospheric, airy, warm—the fifth album by Canadian jazz singer Dominique Fils-Aimé is called My World Is The Sun and is the second album in her second trilogy. History repeats itself? How you look at it.

Fils-Aimé's musical work cannot be separated from the history and experiences of African Americans. It is an emotionally touching account of socially sanctioned events that all too often lacked humanity, which Fils-Aimé renders in African-influenced genres.

Her first three albums had blues (Nameless), jazz (Stay Tuned!), and soul (Three Little Words) as their musical anchors. Her lyrics, on the other hand, dealt with the situation of African Americans from the beginnings of slavery—just think of Strange Fruits from her debut album Nameless or the theme of the civil rights movement that runs through Stay Tuned! and hides an interesting double meaning in the album title – right up to the present day.

The same is true of Trilogy Number 2, which now deals explicitly with the history of the African-American-influenced music genres of blues, jazz, and soul, without neglecting the corresponding social realities – a mirrored approach, so to speak. Fils-Aimé launched it in September 2023 with the album Our Roots Run Deep. She now continues the series with My World Is The Sun.

In the current album, the music deals with the core of creative work – “with freedom, openness, and authenticity as central values,” as the label informs us. However, the lyrics add something else to these values: Love and peace. That sounds melodramatic and trite, but when Dominique Fils-Aimé sings “because you're intellectualizing the music of the soul” in Life Remains, she says a lot about how to deal with that language called music, which speaks more than any words from and for the soul (which, admittedly, also sounds melodramatic, without losing its validity).

For her own compositions, Fils-Aimé uses these three great, interwoven genres and enriches them with influences from other musical sources and genres. The result is a unique sound structure that culminates in Rhythm Of Nature with its ostinato bass figure and accompanying drum sounds, muted trumpet tones, and Fils-Aimé's intense vocals – “to be one with all there is.”

The 15 tracks on the new album offer peace and relaxation in a bath of warm vocals and carefully framed instruments. It is this feat that makes Dominique Fils-Aimé's music an experience and a discovery time and again. The clever layering of sound that both delights and stimulates. Stimulates you to listen, to discover, to enjoy, instead of letting the notes wash over you.

It is striking how deeply Hall shapes and carries the album. With the exception of Going Home, which is very direct and tangible, the tracks are open and deeply spread across a wide stage.

This expanse is cleverly framed with instruments so as not to dissolve into the background. This makes listening an intense pleasure.

It may be regrettable that the fun is over after a good 53 minutes. But then there will be a third album. And until then? Let's just restart My World Is The Sun. (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Dominique Fils-Aimé, vocals, chimes
Claudette Thomas, vocals-intro (track 1)
Jacques Roy, double bass, electric bass
Harvey Bien-Aimée, drums, shakers
David Osei Afrifa, keyboards, synthesizers, piano
Hichem Khalfa, trumpet
Elli Miller Maboungou, percussion, shakers
Shawn Mativetsky, tabla
Etienne Miousse, guitar
Steeve St-Pierre, violin
Camille Gélinas, piano (track 15)
Kevin Annocque, didgeridoo

Photo: ©dfa Jetro Emilcar