Two songs off vocalist Arooj Aftab's bold, contemplative new album, Night Reign, feature Urdu lyrics from the poet Mah Laqa Bai Chanda. Written in India in the 1700s, Chanda's words - heard on the smoldering "Na Gul" and the ascending "Saaqi," featuring pianist Vijay Iyer - find themselves with musical accompaniment for the first time here. Aftab became aware of Chanda's work a decade ago, and has been slowly investigating ever since.
"She's this warrior - I mean, I think at the time all of them were being trained - but of course it's rare for a woman to be a warrior and a diplomat and a person who is a keeper of tradition," says Aftab. "She was very well-versed in poetry and prose and dance and music and fashion. So she was a leader and a badass in her own right. And she was likened to the moon, so that's what her name is. The Queen of the Moon is what that whole long name is. Mah Laqa Bai Chanda."
But working with Chanda's lyrics is not the only time on Night Reign that Aftab reaches for the new. The Pakistani American vocalist, who won the 2022 Best Global Music Performance Grammy and is one third of the trio Love in Exile with Iyer and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, also reimagines the 1940s jazz standard "Autumn Leaves," which she used in her audition for Berklee College of Music. With keyboardist James Francies and bassist Linda May Han Oh along for the ride, the song becomes an urgent, haunting plea. One line in particular - "But I miss you most of all / my darling / when autumn leaves start to fall" - seems to describe unfathomable heartbreak.
"It's this old thing that was written that isn't really rendered anymore," explains Aftab. "It is definitely a weird choice. It's almost like the student standard, right? It's the one that you learn first when you're a baby. And so, in a way, it's kind of quirky and weird that way. And it's not like Billie Holiday has a famous 'Autumn Leaves' cover. It's such a fucking weird thing. Like the worst choice ever. But for those reasons, I kind of like how 'Autumn Leaves' is this weird, beautiful, but awkward early days standard that doesn't get any love."
Aftab composed the ominous "Bolo Na," featuring vocalist Moor Mother and vibraphonist Joel Ross, when she was in high school, in the midst of "teen heartbreak angst." But in 2024, it transforms from a love song into something more pressing - a "social unrest call."
"There are all these establishments and there are all these people, there are all these institutions that asked us to trust them and they promised they'd protect us and they don't," laments Aftab. "So they're essentially lying and we're like, 'Tell me if you love me or not.' At this point, we're not asking that anymore - I know that they don't. And so it became more of a frustrated statement for me."
Night Rein is filled with enthralling collaborations, but one on "Last Night Reprise" nearly didn't happen. When Elvis Costello - an admirer of Aftab's previous album, Vulture Prince - dropped by the studio, it was naturally suggested that he contribute somewhere. But there was no guitar to be found.
"The stupid fucking studio didn't even have a Strat or something," remembers Aftab. "But they had a Wurlitzer. And I was like, 'You wanna give the Wurly a whirl?' And he was like, 'Yeah, okay, I have some ideas.' So we sat him down at the Wurlitzer and he just kind of plunked out these chords in these really great little places. He just touched the Wurlitzer, like, five times in the song and it was so good. I was like, 'Yeah, that is a really good idea, Elvis.'"
The album title alludes, essentially, to the part of the day when music happens. But there's also a clarity of mind that one can only access when the sun goes down. And solitude is never as satisfying during the day.
"Forever it's been a source of inspiration," says Aftab. "And it's been the time where we are playing the show or are traveling to get to the show or are in the studio. And if not, our lives can be so chaotic without a 9 to 5 schedule. In a way, night is when all the pieces start to assemble and you're by yourself, you know?"
