Daniel Lavoie: official website

Gentle storm

Le Droit website - 1995
By Surprenant, Jean-Claude

Artist: Daniel Lavoie
Title of album: Ici
Year of release: 1995

We recently heard about Daniel Lavoie’ severe contractual troubles. Now completely broke, the Franco-Manitoban singer is fighting back with "Ici". Even though the 11 songs of this album lead us onto well-trodden grounds, we’re revisiting them with pleasure . The sound is familiar, thanks to Daniel Lavoie’s use of keyboards, but there is also a poetry, a gentleness unique to Lavoie.

The lyrics, written with Louise Dubuc, are as beautiful as ever in their simplicity, their musicality. As for the music, fruit of the same collaboration, it is a far cry from rap and reverts to a very gentle kind of folk music, with jazz undertones. The arrangements draw on synthetic sounds as much as acoustic ones, and it makes for a happy blend.

With "Ici", Daniel Lavoie does what he does best. And we can enjoy some very beautiful songs, including "Du feu dans ma maison" and "Je n'y suis pour personne", on which Lavoie worked with Sylvain Lelièvre. For Daniel Lavoie's faithful fans, "Ici" will be a blue Nirvana.