Dominique A in concert in Lausanne: «My vision of the world is fragmented».»

He has lent his pen to some of the world's greatest names (Alain Bashung, Etienne Daho, Calogero) and released his fourteenth album last year. Before playing at Les Docks this Friday, October 13, accompanied by H-Burns, singer-songwriter Dominique A picked up the phone.

Le Regard LibreWhat do you think of the label «literary singer» that is sometimes applied to you??

Dominique A: I've been looking for it! (Laughter) I don't think much of it, actually. The first time I heard the term «literary singer» used was for Lou Reed, so I'm okay with that. After that, once you've read three books and talked about them, you're identified as a literary singer. It's like saying «intellectual singer»... I'm delighted to be identified as a human being with neurons. It corresponds to a reality: I'm a literary buff, I write books from time to time. The only drawback is that it puts the work on music in quotation marks. But that doesn't bother me that much.

You have writes several times for d’autrartists. How do these collaborations work?

It depends on the case. Often, they're proposals that are made to me. Writing lyrics is more for variety singers in general. I like the exercise. There's a real need for me to put myself in brackets, to respond to the wishes of the person who's going to interpret the words and sing them. I try to be as close as possible to what I think that person is artistically, by adding my own little salt. It's a little challenge that I enjoy. There are collaborations like with H. Burns [editor's note: with whom he played at Les Docks in Lausanne after this interview].. He comes to me and offers to co-write a piece of music that already exists with a given subject. In this case, a meeting takes place.

And there are cases wherewhere you simply take care of the interpretation.

Yes, and it's true that I rather like the idea of being called in solely as an interpreter: the song is hand-stitched and all I have to do is put my voice to it. I'm bound to bring back a way of doing things, some harmonies, some melodic ideas, without upsetting the musical decor. It's quite pleasant to be confined to a single role, whether that's writing the lyrics or simply interpreting someone else's song. The scenarios are very different. They allow me to navigate from one mode of operation to another. I learn from them for my own practice. It gives me ideas, or it reinforces the idea that I shouldn't go in a certain direction. It's always positive.

A direction that’il to your own titles?

It's a trial run, and then I say to myself, well, that's not necessarily what I'm going to go for next. If I'm working on a song that's very catchy, I'm not necessarily going to feel that, even if I like the result, this is what I want to do, and vice-versa. In other words, at a given time, I can tend towards relatively accessible songs where I try to stick to a couplet-chorus-bridge structure, and then realize that I really want to do that. It also depends on what I'm listening to when I'm composing, and the records I'm listening to at the time.

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Listening to your latest album, The real world (2022), we get the feeling you're staging from a position of world observer.

I'm not going to be candid about it. I hear a lot about this observer position. It's not something I intend to cultivate or something I saw coming. The tone of the songs and their subject matter went a bit beyond me. As I went along, I realized that I had this way of looking at things, and that there was indeed a risk of suggesting that there was something overhanging behind it all. I hope that's not the case. As soon as the text worked well with the music, I didn't want to ask myself any more questions.

How do you get the lyrics to fit the music?

It's always very difficult. As long as it works, I put aside a bit how it's going to be interpreted...at the risk of misinterpretations. Sometimes, it may occur to me, but I've got my head in the sand. When there are songs that have a slightly moralistic tone and I realize it, I'll pretend it's not the case to get to the end of the song, and the record. The way people look at the record is something you have to face up to when it comes out. My vision of the world is fragmented and random, like everyone else's.

In this album, we hear concerns about the climate (Last call from the forest), but also the presence of social problems (News from the distant world). All this is counterbalanced by hope and resilience (With the others). How do you manage this in-between situation?

L’inquiétude, c’est le maître-mot. C’est justement moins un disque « d’observateur » qu’un disque de personne complètement flippée, tétanisée, par les enjeux. Une chanson comme With the others montre un chemin très basique, je trouvais que c’était pertinent de dire les choses de façon plate également, dans un climat de friction où la parole des uns et celle des autres se piétinent. Et puis cela correspondait à mon état d’esprit. Cette chanson est la seule à avoir été écrite en studio. Elle cristallisait ce que j’étais en train de vivre avec les musiciens. C’était un pari de tous se retrouver en studio, sans n’avoir jamais joué ensemble. Le défi a été relevé et j’ai senti tout de suite que les musiciens avaient porté toutes mes chansons vers le haut, et même au-delà de ce que j’avais imaginé. J’ai eu envie de l’exprimer et cela est venu, un matin.

Is this the song that brings hope to the album?

Looking back, I'd say that it does lighten things up a bit, and makes sure that the tone of the songs in general doesn't overwhelm you. The musical work helps to counterbalance the possible darkness of the rest of the album. That's kind of the crux of the matter for me, but it's not necessarily what people are going to say to me. I think it's sensitive, though, because otherwise it wouldn't be acceptable.

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Alongside your album, you've also published a book of poetry, Present impossible (L'iconoclaste, 2022). Is your writing process different then?

Bien sûr ! Dans ce livre-là, c’était vraiment jeté sur le papier, et je n’y retouchais pas. Ce sont des pensées qui m’ont traversé, une métrique aussi que je découvrais et qui était beaucoup plus libre que celle utilisée dans les chansons. L’abandon de la rime par exemple, ça me faisait un bien fou. Cela me permettait aussi d’exprimer des choses que je ne me verrais pas chanter. C’est aussi ce plaisir de travailler sur du format très court, et de se dire qu’il n’y aura rien derrière, pas de travail additionnel. Ce ne sont pas des textes dont je me dis aujourd’hui que je vais pouvoir les réutiliser un jour en chanson. C’est un travail différent, et à vrai dire, ce n’est pas un travail. C’est une vraie soupape, un espace de liberté totale par rapport à l’écriture. J’ai réécrit quelques poèmes depuis, mais la pratique s’est un peu perdue. J’y reviendrai certainement.

This Friday, you'll be performing at Les Docks in Lausanne. What is your relationship with Switzerland?

Un rapport excellent, vraiment! Il n’y a pas nécessairement plus de monde aux concerts qu’avant, mais j’ai la sensation que nos liens se renforcent avec le temps. Je n’ai pas une impression d’usure. Et puis j’ai des projets dans votre pays. Dont des concerts symphoniques avec l’Orchestre de chambre de Genève en mars prochain, avec un enregistrement à la clé. Nous faisons plusieurs passages sur la tournée actuelle: Pully, Genève et Lausanne. On va croire que c’est de la démagogie, mais le public suisse est très agréable au sens où il est ouvert et, en même temps, chaleureux. Dans certaines villes de France, les gens sont extrêmement pudiques, on ne sait pas ce qu’ils pensent. En Suisse, je trouve qu’il y a une constance dans l’accueil.

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