Arooj Aftab – Night Reign | soundsfromthedarkside

Arooj Aftab proves that jazz isn’t an art form trapped in a dusty history book. Instead, if it’s up to her, that same sort of book serves as a spellbinding manner to fuse heritage and music.

What the hell! A review that is not about power metal or some vague indie blending subgenre? Well, every once in a while we dare to look beyond our biases and this time we’ll have a talk about something jazzy. Late night jazz that is, by the Grammy-winning Arooj Aftab. On her latest album, Night Reign, the Pakistani-American singer takes on a stroll through dark spaces and high places of half light.

Arooj Aftab has spent the last decade blending her cultural heritage with jazz. Her 2014 debut, Bird Under Water, mixed Urdu poetry with sitar and drums. Fast forward to 2021, Vulture Prince created a global stir by replacing percussion with vibrant strings. Last year, her collaboration with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismail on Love in Exile delivered a moody, ambient whisper. In a jazz world still dominated by American influences, Aftab stands out as a unique, almost mythical figure. A myth that cloaks herself in the shadows of night.

As the LP liner notes suggest, Night Reign is darker than dark with only Aftab’s voice as a guide to her own nocturnal world which she created with haunting precision. Night Reign opens with Aey Nehin, a song that feels like a warm but also restless lullaby. Kaki King’s looping guitar never settles, while Aftab’s harmonious voice tries to land on the same fast moving guitar notes. Aftab and Kaki King intentionally never meet and float away in the night in a different direction. A long night has just begun. Herafther Na Gul captivates with its soft, comforting harp chords and deep breaths. It feels spontaneous and creative. On Autumn Leave James Francies’ electric-piano takes the spotlight. The eccentric solo has the effect of sounding like it was recorded backward while Aftab’s slow singing serves as an ideal contrast.

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On Bolo Na, Aftab gives room to two other guests. Here poet Moor Mother has some harsh words about love that are underlined by the commanding bass tones of Shahzad Ismaily. On her fourth full work under her own name she finds the precise balance between the experiment and the familiar and moves forward in the same fashion on Saaqi, a warm interpretation of an 18th-century Indian poem and the dusk lit Raat Ki Rani. On the latter we first hear her making use of a light touch of auto-tune which feels a bit overproduced. Wise choice or not, Aftab closes with two jazz standards on which she herself acts as a bridge between East and West. On the English sung Whiskey she chooses love above someone’s imperfections and tries to find peace on Zameen, a song by Begum Akhtar, one of India’s most legendary female singers.

Night Reign is a strong and beautiful album that shows Arooj Aftab’s deep emotions and mature vision on production. It explores different aspects of the night and highlights her ability to let in other talents to add to her ideas. Most remarkable is Aftab’s ability to weave sounds of the past into an original and cohesive form. With Night Reign, she forges her own musical language, breaks into new grounds and thus solidifying her place as one of the most talented artists of this generation.