Spotlight: Human Connection with Ali Thibodeau AKA Deau Eyes
Photo: Lucienne
As we all forage for human connection through our experiences on this planet, RVA native, Ali Thibodeau aka Deau Eyes, has found space to share her mind’s eye on the matter and more with her upcoming album release, Legacies. Out tomorrow, you can expect a story to unfold from start to finish in Ali’s most honest, expressive album yet, and the Richmond community has only deepened the support of her artistic place in the world.
CultureWorks: Who are you, and what is your relationship to your music project Deau Eyes?
Ali Thibodeau: I'm Ali Thibodeau aka Deau Eyes-- we're inseparable. This project started as some sort of liberated phoenix rising from the ashes of things that didn't work out and my overall processing of the world around me. I grew up dreaming I'd be dancing and singing in Broadway shows and found myself pretty bored with that path having been rejected time and time again over a handful of years. It wasn't happening naturally or in a way that I could find joy in anymore so I started leaning into writing my own story. Picking up the guitar was a tool to help buy groceries. I played the one and only song I knew in the subway station while people commuted to work in the morning and became fascinated by the exchange, collecting coins and dollar bills. I found my fire more naturally as I learned to play guitar and focused on writing songs, taking them to open mics, and perfecting the stories I was so hungry to tell. Once I realized this performance path could be taken anywhere, I left New York and came back to my hometown of RVA. That's where I started to build and become Deau Eyes.
CW: What are you most excited to share with your upcoming release, Legacies?
AT: I'm really excited to share this record as a whole story front to back. It covers so much ground of where my mind has been living for the past few years; contemplating our time on this planet, our connection to one another, and the comedy and tragedy in everything. It's been such a journey, and like album one, it takes you on a ride all over the map stylistically. It's naturally very different from the first album, and it'll feel so good to share a more vibey and delicate part of myself. It's a very honest and vulnerable expression of who I am today which is very clearly different from who I was picking myself up to make the first album. So much has changed over the last few years and it's a deep reflection of that.
CW: How have you felt yourself connect with the community through Deau Eyes?
AT: Deau Eyes has given me a stage and a voice to collaborate with artists I admire most and it's really an honor to be playing shows in the same venues with folks I genuinely look up to. The community is simply everything anyone could ever dream of as far as showing up to support and getting in the trenches with you. There are always new friends to make out in the crowd and new organizations doing beautiful exciting work for the greater good of humankind. Community is the life force that helps me lift myself up in hopes that the high tide will raise all ships. I know a lot of really really talented folks here doing the same and being a part of a supportive/ nurturing creative environment is all I could ever ask for. The connection is real.
CW: In your own words, what do arts & culture mean to you, and why does it matter?
AT: Arts and culture is everything to me. I grew up in small-town Mechanicsville with a political cartoonist as a dad and a dance studio owner as a mom. All that really mattered was making each other feel seen by spreading joy, passion, and expression. The exchange when someone puts their heart on the table and the other says, "Hey, I feel that" or "Hm.. I wonder what this is about?" is the essence of our humanity, a beautiful tool for empathy, and just all around FUN. Listening to music gets me through my days, dancing is my joy, and looking at art makes me wander outside of my usual creative toolbox. Arts & culture beg us to create a better world, to gain power in knowing about where we've come from and dream up where we're going, to show up for ourselves and each other.
Legacies is out Friday, June 10th, 2022.
For tickets to Deau Eyes’ album release show on June10th, click here.
To keep up with Deau Eyes: https://www.deaueyes.com/
To purchase Legacies: https://deaueyes.bandcamp.com/