“I want to make music with and for everybody,” Pakistani-American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Arooj Aftab says of her classical, minimalistic, jazz-influenced music which finds her voice moving up and down the scale like a dove in flight over ethereal harps, tinkling pianos, and plucking bass. While her last offering, Vulture Prince, was heavy and dealt with grief and heartbreak, her latest offering, Night Reign, is about the lighter, more colorful parts of the heart. The album is a romantic, ambitious look at the magic of nighttime, with titles like, “Raat Ki Rani,” which means “night blooming jasmine,” “Saaqi,” which means “one who serves wine,” and “Zameen,” which means “country, earth, ground, or land.”

The only Pakastani who has won a Grammy to date, her desire to reach people has apparently just begun. She communicated her anxiety at trying to top her critically acclaimed album, Vulture Prince, saying that people expect you to always put out something better than your last offering. The themed approach, I think, solidifies this album as something more approachable and even more magical than her last offering. An album with both atmospheric genius and content that is sure to move the listener’s heart.

Featuring big names in the independent music world, like Moor Mother, Shazad Ismaily, and Vijay Ijer, and signing to the Verve label, the album nonetheless features Aftab in all her Middle Eastern glory. Her Spotify shows listeners from as varied places as Dehli, India, New York City, and Islamabad, Pakistan. A graduate of Boston’s Berklee College of Music and an American transplant since she was nineteen, she nonetheless has a global reach with her decidedly Neo-Sufi, hindustani classical music.

“Last night, my beloved / Was like the moon / So beautiful,” she sings of night’s most-adored constant feature. “Even brighter than the sun.” Nighttime, with its allure of romance, is all over the album. And there’s always room for another love song, especially ones influenced by the likes of Rumi and Mirza Ghalib. “I want to believe / In a love / In a future,” Moor Mother recites on the song “Bolo Na” with its dark timbre. Aftab’s music has the benefit of sounding both personal and universal, political and pastoral. It’s a beautiful album that she will be touring in the coming months, and it promises to be a life-changing show. The only thing better than this impressive album, I think, would be a chance to get to see her live.

order Night Reign by Arooj Aftab HERE