Composer, lyricist and multi-instrumentalist Dominique Desrosiers makes memorable, playful music that wraps pop, jazz, electronic and classical elements around resonant layers of sophisticated melodies. His clever lyrics capture delicate emotions and the complexity of human relationships. His enthusiasm for crafting sweeping, cinematic compositions is clearly evidenced in his modern instrumental scores, which celebrate both the romance of the traditional symphony orchestra and the nuances of contemporary music. His sleek instrumentals serve vibrant visuals to tell the intricate stories of films, commercials and video games.

As the singer/songwriter and recording artist “Desrosiers,” he uses simple but powerful guitar melodies, nuanced rhythms and a velvety vocal tone to illuminate intimate poetry about love, religion, the human condition, the bittersweet passage of time and personal empowerment. Armed with a sharp sense of humor, years of musical training and a background in psychology, Desrosiers has amassed a significant body of work that demonstrates an insatiable curiosity and an ever-evolving artistic versatility.

A native of Montreal, Desrosiers has always been captivated by many musical styles and the thrilling sonic textures created by a broad spectrum of instruments. He picked up the violin at the age of six, then began to study guitar at 13 and got hooked on the instrument’s endless possibilities. Inspired by legends such as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan and avant-garde songwriters/composers like David Byrne, Desrosiers uses his guitar to create his own sounds and songs. As a teenager, he was also struck by Glenn Gould’s interpretation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and felt driven to learn more about the construction of classical masterpieces and how he could incorporate their aesthetic sensibilities into his own compositions.

After taking up the ukulele, bass, drums and keyboards in his 20s, Desrosiers became excited about fresh, refined Brit-pop acts like Interpol and Joy Division and also began to travel and explore new realms in his creative life. He looked up to jazz artists Brad Mehldau and The Bad Plus and composers/songwriters and producers such as Chilly Gonzales. This exploration gave him the confidence to embrace his own quirks and fine-tune his ability to piece together surprising textures to create cohesive works that tell a story. The death of Desrosier’s father instilled in him a sense of urgency and fully ignited his desire to be a professional musician, pushing him to pursue projects that moved him full force.

Always up for an adventure, Desrosiers has made global travel a central theme in his life, and he has frequently visited Europe, the United States and beyond; this worldliness comes through in his music, as does his bottomless appetite for new knowledge. Travelling with a ukulele, he writes many of his songs and scores on the road. A technologist and teacher with a BS in psychology and a graduate degree in eBusiness, he also studied composing and orchestrating for film and television at Berklee College. He has scored many scenes and composed a multitude of ringtones and other media cues, plus studied and worked with a number of talented artists in Canada and abroad, including Emmy Award-winning composer Brad Hatfield (Glee, The Sopranos) and lauded indie rock mixer/producer Larry Crane (The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, Elliot Smith).

Desrosiers’s solo singer/songwriter project began in 2011 following the breakup of FWI (Frenchwestindies), a promising Montreal rock band he helmed with his long-time friend, designer Francis Bernier. After the band dissolved, Desrosiers moved to a remote chalet in Quebec’s woods where he wrote and recorded a dozen songs, pieces and instrumentals, which made up his debut EP, Desrosiers (2013). His single “Whatever Be Your Art” followed in 2014.

“I’m OK with This” is Desrosiers’s latest single and was mixed by Larry Crane. The artist is currently majoring in Electroacoustics at Université de Montréal. He is also pursuing opportunities in film and television scoring as well as producing a one-man band along with an album with a childhood friend and long-time collaborator Sébastien Maître, which will be released in 2018.