Few singers can match the delicate warmth and quiet power of Arooj Aftab’s voice. Over the past decade, the Pakistani-American singer has released four albums that showcase her gossamer cadence in ever-quieter settings, from jazz to Sufi qawwalis and finger-picking folk. Her debut Bird Under Water in 2014 paired Urdu poetry with sitar and drums, while 2021’s Grammy-winning breakthrough Vulture Prince replaced percussion with lively strings, and 2023’s collaborative record Love in Exile with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily used only synth trills and piano to create an ambient backing for Aftab’s whispers.
If she were to continue on the same trajectory, fifth album Night Reign might be so subtle as to verge on silence. Yet, across its nine tracks, Aftab presents one of her most spirited and experimental records to date, aiming to embody the nocturnal setting that provides the inspiration for her music.
Opening track Aey Nehin evokes a nighttime lover’s longing, intricately interweaving Kaki King and Gyan Riley’s acoustic guitars with Maeve Gilchrist’s harp to produce a luscious harmonic bed for Aftab’s keening phrases. Na Gul, meanwhile, channels Nitin Sawhney’s jazz fusion with its plaintive melodies, creating a heart-rending sense of wistful romance. Darkness also seeps in on the grungy bass and eerie vibraphone of Bolo Na, with Aftab’s soaring notes intruding like an insomniac’s anxious thoughts, while the shuffling percussion and horn fanfares of Raat Ki Rani are the closest Aftab has come to the dancefloor, producing infectious momentum.
Not all of the experiments are successful. A sparse, percussive version of jazz standard Autumn Leaves fragments its gentle melody into jagged shapes, only finding respite in James Francies’ journeying Rhodes solo. Nonetheless, Night Reign is a welcome step forward, demonstrating how Aftab’s voice isn’t just a soothing presence but can also evoke everything from solipsism to eroticism and anxiety over these mercurial and moody soundscapes.
Also out this month
Saxophonist Jorga Mesfin, protege of Ethio-jazz luminary Mulatu Astatke, releases his debut album The Kindest One (Muzikawi). Rather than repackage the shuffling polyrhythms and falsetto melodies that characterise Astatke’s sound, Mesfin carves out his own intriguing sonic identity, letting notes hang over sparse percussion and handclaps, breaking down rhythms to their barest essentials.
Brazilian singer Flavia Coelho’s fifth album Ginga (PIAS) convincingly blends everything from amapiano to reggae and guitar-strumming funk as propulsive backing for her insistent melodies.
Trombonist Robinson Khoury’s latest album Mÿa (Komos) is a dark journey into improvisation, harnessing synth pads and electronic drum programming to bolster eerie melodies, peaking on the staccato phrases of Qana.
