The Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based composer draws from jazz, Hindustani classical, and folk to create a heartbreaking, exquisite document of the journey from grief to acceptance.

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12mo

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hbear

Whereas her back catalog felt meandering and immaterial, Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince is cogent, pristine, and emotionally grounded. Guided by the trauma of her brother’s passing and compounded with the agony of isolation, the album somehow manages to bleed joy and nostalgia from every pore throughout its (deceptively lengthy) 7-track run. Throughout the album, we see Aftab adapting mystical poetry (“Last Night”), re-animating Hindi classics (“Mohabbat”), and ... read more

1y*

nana onsen (guilty)

vulture prince is an entrancing and deeply moving album, which finds clarity and tenderness in the bareness of its instrumentation while remaining emotionally rich and rewarding. although it is primarily guided by trauma and loss, arooj aftab's familiar voice renders her creation more like a wistful and bittersweet trip through the past. light dissonance creeps in then falters on Inayaat, which starts uneasy but resolves with its mesmerizing crescendo.

when it fades and she begins to introduce ... read more

1y*

MasterCrackfox

Vulture Prince is a gorgeous love letter to loss, all centered around the immense talent of Arooj Aftab, a Pakistan-born composer who graduated from Berklee College of Music and resides in Brooklyn. Aftab is not a name I had ever come across until discovering her through NPR who lobbed a great deal of praise towards her third album. That praise was more than justified, as this gorgeous collection of songs are contemplative and soothing to the core.

Somehow sparse but resoundingly full, Vulture ... read more

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Arooj Aftab;s 3rd album has finally place her on the map in terms of a wider audience and a staple in modern world music and is a testament to how great, interesting and other how mesmerizing music from other cultures and countries can sound like and Vulture Prince proves that with a chamber folk / jazz record which is both ethereal and lush and yet endearing.

Track Review

Bahhon Main 8/10
Diya Hai 7.5/10.
Inayaat 7.5/10.
Last Night 8.5/10.
Mohabbat 9/10
Saans Lo 7/10
Suroor ... read more

1mo

breakdowncry

listened to this for the first time and was not disappointed one bit.

1mo

alicettgs

BEST ALBUMS OF 2021

#7
A cantora paquistanesa Arooj Aftab ganhou a mídia norte-americana com o lançamento do seu disco “Vulture Prince”. Até então, a multi-instrumentista tinha mais notoriedade por seus trabalhos em trilhas sonoras. Porém, logo no início do ano, ela nos presenteou com o single “Mohabbat”, que entrou em diversas listas de fim de ano de revistas estadunidenses, mesmo não sendo uma canção em ... read more

3mo

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