Magi Merlin launches debut album Power House ahead of Dour Festival appearance

Montreal musician Magi Merlin is bringing her eclectic neo-R&B sound to Dour Festival in Belgium on Friday, just days after launching her debut album Power House.

The festival, held in the Belgian city of the same name, hosts 200 artists across six stages over five days, attracting more than 225,000 spectators. The massive event is known for spotlighting electronic music and its many hybridizations — precisely the space Merlin occupies with her fluid, genre-bending approach.

Power House is an ode to the force each person possesses when facing the world's challenges. "We are not impuissants," she said of the album's central message. On the record, Merlin addresses what it means to be human and how our identities shift and transform. "A day you can be shitty; the next day, amazing; and thus goes life. I want to remind people, as much as myself, that even the days when we feel like shit, we have the power to change the world — even if appearances might make us believe otherwise."

Merlin's music is a chameleon that changes personality track by track: pop on pixxxie, drum and bass on Wtvr, breakbeats and heavy bass on EAT!ME!OUT!, gritty hip-hop on Thank You!!!, and sinuous R&B on the hypnotic Workout. Maintaining clear direction through such eclecticism is a feat Merlin achieves through close collaboration with composer and co-producer Funkywhat (Nader Abouzeid).

"We lived on the same street in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce," Merlin said, describing it as a sign of destiny. "It's alongside him that I discovered my own musical style, understood how I wanted to express myself musically. He's always seeking ways to magnify my song ideas. He's a versatile musician who plays bass, guitar, and makes beats, but most importantly, he makes people he works with feel comfortable."

Funkywhat has been Merlin's collaborator for nearly a decade, supporting her since her early self-released microalbums Drug Music (2021) and Gone Girl (2022). Her work traces a lineage through artists like Tirzah, Kelela, and FKA Twigs' more recent club-oriented material. "My music even has a punk side that emerges when I perform live," she added. A daughter of Haitian and Armenian parents, Merlin carries that heritage with pride: "Two peoples of survivors."