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Arooj Aftab Follows Grammy-Winning ‘Vulture Prince’ With the Haunting, Gorgeous ‘Night Reign’: Album Review
Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab follows her Grammy-winning 'Vulture Prince' album with the brighter but equally breathtaking 'Night Reign.'
Arooj Aftab ’s dusky and sonorous voice — not to mention the Arabic and Asian-inflected melodies in her songs, which are sung in Urdu and English — tend to make people think she’s playing a form of traditional music. Her music is often not as weighty as it might seem: As she said in 2022 during a breathtaking performance in a perfect setting — at the Temple of Dendur at New York’s Metropolitan Museum — “People think these songs are serious, but most of them are about being intoxicated and completely failing at love.” With a wide range of collaborators — Cautious Clay, Chocolate Genius (aka Marc Anthony Thompson, Tessa’s father), pianist Vijay Iyer and longtime accompanists Petros Klampanis on bass, harpist Maeve Gilchrist and keyboardist James Francies — “Night Reign,” contrary to its title, is a brighter but no less beautiful take on Aftab’s music.
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