“Night Reign”, or the intoxicating dreams of Pakistani Arooj Aftab
It is by allowing ourselves to be embraced by Morpheus that we fully savor Night Reign. With this fourth opus as sweet as a dream, released on May 31, Arooj Aftab takes us into “his most inspired and experimental album, an evocation of the nocturnal setting which provides the inspiration for his music”, according to the British daily The Guardian. And the journey is rich: Urdu poetry from the 18th centurye century to pieces written in adolescence, infused with jazz.
Arooj Aftab is, above all, an extraordinary voice. “Few singers can rival her warm delicacy and hushed power,” thus underlines the Guardian. This rich instrument allows him to “to convey a wide range of feelings, all in nuance”, abounds The Wall Street Journal. By turns assured or vulnerable, her range disturbs the listener as she sings of loss, fear, nostalgia and desire.
“Her phrasing unfolds slowly, and we hear an echo in her voice, which gives such a feeling of space that we have the impression of being in the rooms where she is recording.”
Crazy audacity
Now based in New York, the artist
