Arooj Aftab is a Pakistan-raised, Brooklyn-based vocalist and composer who until recently was something of a treasured secret in New York’s creative music community. Combining classical south Asian singing with contemporary jazz, and further folding in forms such as minimalism, new music, alt-folk and ambient, Aftab had by 2022 released three albums that were at once mysterious and mesmerising. They were also decidedly not like anything else.
That year she earned two Grammy nominations, for best new artist and best global music performance, and took home the latter award, making her the first Pakistani musician to win a Grammy. Signing to the celebrated jazz label Verve, in 2023, in a collaborative trio with the pianist Vijay Iyer and the multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, Aftab released the revelatory and beguiling Love in Exile. The album was universally praised. Her star was ascendant.
Aftab’s new record is only likely to continue that upward trend. “A cinematic soundscape that brings life to the divinely ominous space we call the dark”, Night Reign is an evocative nine-song collection that explores such myriad nocturnal pursuits as solitude, romance, desire and liberation. Aiding such contemplations are a fascinating cast of regular associates, such as the harpist Maeve Gilchrist and the guitarist Gyan Riley, and featured guests that include the spoken-word artist Moor Mother, the vibraphonist Joel Ross and, on flute, the R&B songwriter Cautious Clay.
At the album’s musical and emotional centre is Aftab’s irresistibly rich, warm and expressive voice (she sings here in both Urdu and English), which – especially when she soars to the upper registers and holds a high note aloft, as on Bolo Na – is utterly transporting. The songs are mostly spare and restrained; Aftab’s compositions unfurl carefully and patiently, which only adds to the intensity, the slow burn.
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The music is simultaneously light and dense, simple and complex, in a tradition and way beyond it. “Global soul” is the closest Aftab has come to defining the sound, a term that suitably hints at the music’s inclusiveness and depth of feeling. She has said, “It’s not any style, it’s a very personal thing.” Night Reign is all the more powerful and affecting for being both.
