After so many years in the music business and so many albums delivered, there comes a time of self-questioning and doubt – not to mention the usual nervousness preceding the release of a new opus. But hooking up with Dominique A few days before the release of L'Horizon, we found him unusually calm and serene. What's more, this state of Zen-like composure appears to have started with the very conception of his new album.

"I never really worried about the issue of doing something totally new this time round," he says, "It was quite the opposite, in fact. I wanted this album to be almost redundant. It was intended to be lucid and very upfront in terms of guitar and vocals. I recorded it with Dominique Brusson, the co-producer I worked on Remué with. What we were trying to get was this soft, velvety sound, a sound you could almost wrap yourself up in like a cocoon. I liked the idea of the musicians coming in here and there rather than playing as a group the whole time. We were after more of a 'pointillist' feel."

It's hardly surprising that Dominique A should refer to this seventh release as redundant. L'Horizon is, in fact, a rather neat synthesis of his previous six albums, as if its architect were turning round and surveying the foundations he has laid to date. But previous designs are never simply copied or repeated, just suggested or echoed in a certain tone and atmosphere. L'Horizon is infused with a sense of tranquillity which its author readily admits to, although he denies that the fuss the press has made about this being his most "personal" work to date is far from the truth. "Apart from the song Rue des marais, I wouldn't say this is a specially autobiographical album. It's more fictional. There are quite a few songs on it inspired by the sea, but there's definitely not much of the sailor about me! I think the personal side of things comes from the emotion on the album and the approach I took to making it. I've got this almost childish attachment to all the songs on it – they're mine, mine, mine!"

Dominique A decided to act as his own producer on L'Horizon, a move which gave him more artistic freedom - and more responsibility for the finished product. The singer obviously took great pleasure in exploring new musical avenues, too, experimenting with styles he has rarely touched on before such as narrative vocals or tracks where his voice fades gently into the background. Breaking out of standard formats, Dominique A also allowed artistic inspiration to spill over on several tracks lasting beyond seven minutes. "The original plan was to do an album of eight long tracks," he says, "Then I realised that would be too rigid. I have a bit of a problem with concepts. I like the idea of things being more of a free-for-all."

Dominique A has certainly managed to pull off this pell-mell mix in style, producing an album that is both pure and pared-back, but also subtly rich and satisfying. Sudden bursts of brass dart back and forth at lightning speed, while other instruments linger hauntingly in the background and there is an impressive attention to detail throughout L'Horizon. It is always clear, however, that the overall structure works towards atmosphere not melody. The author declares he is delighted with the result "because I think you get tired of a melody much more quickly than you do of an ambience. There's a much wider palette of emotions on this album. I used a lot of arrangements as a basis for most tracks and, working with Dominique Brusson, I decided that rather than leaving room for the musicians to intervene we'd push individual songs to the limit. The further we got with things, the less room there was. That meant it really had to be the little details that came in here and there enriching the substance rather than changing it."

L'Horizon opens up lyrically as well as musically, the songs on Dominique A's seventh album evoking images of the sea, vast open spaces and distant horizons. As Dominique A admits, there was a conscious desire to break away from dull colours and the reality of everyday life. "It was full cinemascope this time round," he says, "I didn't want to do arty black and white. Frankly, I think songs that draw on everyday life are starting to get a bit boring. There are good things about them too, of course, but I've done my share and after a while there's a certain arrogance in claiming to deal with the nitty-gritty of life. It's an opaque zone that can't be reduced to a series of simple facts."

In the same way, L'Horizon could never be reduced to a simple sum of its parts. Suffice to say that on this seventh offering, Dominique A's talent is unmistakably there along with his signature nostalgia and an added fluidity. What's more, L'Horizon might well appeal to a whole new audience – a possibility that has not escaped its author. "I'd be really freaked out if this album remained confined to an inner circle of fans," he admits, "It would be hard for me to bounce back after that without putting myself into question." There appears to be no risk of that for Dominique A, however. His horizons look set to widen considerably in a few days' time.

Dominique A L'Horizon (Olympic) 2006