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Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily

Love In Exile

Verve
Release Date: March 24, 2023

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Shadow Forces
To Remain/To Return (Visualizer)
Sharabi (Visualizer)
Eyes Of The Endless (Visualizer)
Haseen Thi (Visualizer)
Sajni (Visualizer)
1 To Remain To Return  
2 Haseen Thi  
3 Shadow Forces  
4 Sajni  
5 Eyes of the Endless  
6 Sharabi  
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Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard melodies and stirring vocals, earthy basslines, and hypnotic drones: together they create an album of stunning gravitas and beauty. Love In Exile was recorded live in a New York City studio with minimal editing, and each listen reveals distinct aspects of this soundworld, sure as it will activate new feelings inside you.

Genre categories come after the fact. This album is startlingly present and emotionally open. Many listeners will find it easier to remember how each song made them feel and what each song did to their sense of attention rather than specific melodies. This is music as a meeting ground and a way of being alive to the world. All the intimacies and deep trust that we understand by the word love combine with all the strangeness and adaptability of exile. The outsiders stay open.

The trio’s work is graceful in the common sense: elegance and emotion accompany each movement here. Yet it also manifests the deeper, spiritual sense of grace: a beauty that is generous, free, and unexpected, tapped into a higher power, which it translates and extends.

By creating in real time, without any prior preparations, the three musicians make a collective moment for both themselves and the audience. Remembering their first show, Aftab says, “Vijay and Shahzad were so locked into each other, and it was unclear whether they were doing what I was doing or I was doing what they were doing. We were like a school of fish.” Sunlight dappled through deep water, fluid motions that dissolve individual boundaries and amplify communal energy. Ismaily calls it “a relaxing toward what is.” Love In Exile is the power of music, how it moves us and invites us to love. 

  • Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile makes TREBLE '20 Best Jazz Albums of 2023'
    Posted At: December 19, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile makes 2023 NACC CHILL: YEAR-END TOP 10
    Posted At: December 14, 2023
    The 2023 Chart Year Is Over & We Have Your Year-End Recap! A full year-end NACC 200 as well as year-end Top 50 charts for NACC NEXT, NACC Non-Comm, NACC Canadian, and Singles, plus our Blues, Chill, Electronic, Folk, Heavy, Hip Hop, Jazz, Latin, R&B/Soul, & World genre charts are available to NACC subscribers.We thank you so much if you took the time to log in and report your charts this year. T...

  • Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile makes 'STEREOGUM: 10 Best Jazz Albums Of 2023'
    Posted At: December 13, 2023
    STEREOGUM'S PHIL FREEMAN WRITES….2023 has been a transitional year for jazz. We lost one of the genre’s most brilliant composers and performers, Wayne Shorter; free jazz flamethrowers Peter Brötzmann and Charles Gayle; genteel pianist Ahmad Jamal; bassist, composer and Spike Lee’s father Bill Lee; singer Tony Bennett; trombonist Curtis Fowlkes; bassist Richard Davis; pianist and composer Carla Bley; saxopho...

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily - Love in Exile makes 'Consequence: Best Albums of 2023'
    Posted At: December 4, 2023
    Consequence Staff writes…..Our Annual Report kicks off with our lost of the Best Albums of 2023. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and interviews about the best music, film, and TV 2023 had to offer. You can find it all in one place here.If you follow music closely, you’ve probably heard the question a lot this year: Where have all the big albums gone?There are a couple of ways to t...

  • Love In Exile - Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily play Virginia Tech's 'Moss Arts Center' / The Roanoker
    Posted At: October 6, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • 'Love in Exile' brings their fusion of spiritual jazz and South Asian music to the Reser / Willamette Week
    Posted At: September 19, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily play NYC's Town Hall. A wonderful concert, to be remembered / jazztrail
    Posted At: September 15, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • In advance of Newman Center for the Performing Arts show, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily chat with 88.5KGNU
    Posted At: September 11, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Arooj Aftab is producing Anoushka Shankar's new mini-album. A South Asian reunion of beautiful musical minds / TNS
    Posted At: July 9, 2023
    the news on sunday's Maheen SabeehInstep writes…Anoushka Shankar and Arooj Aftab represent the best of South Asia, in terms of artists who can create harmony through music. Challenging each other as artists and finding a common ground, the result is usually gripping, haunting, beautiful and what can only be described as one of lasting design. Shankars Arooj Aftab-produced single ‘Stolen Moments’ and their c...

  • The music on 'Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily's 'Love in Exile' is really like nothing you've ever heard / CD Hotlist
    Posted At: July 1, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Arooj Aftab wants to be more than an Urdu singer / THEPRINT
    Posted At: May 29, 2023
    Now she’s being called anti-Pakistan The singer’s tweet on labels by Western media opened a can of worms. Many accused her of wanting to shed her roots.THEPRINT - YASHNA KUMAR writes…. Internationally acclaimed Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab, whose songs were on former US president Barack Obama’s playlist and who performed with Anoushka Shankar at the 2023 Grammy Awards in February, is in the centre of an ide...

  • Arooj Aftab among 'CULTURED - 11 boundary pushing AAPI artists'
    Posted At: May 23, 2023
    CULTURED writes….This May, commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by digging into some of the magazine’s most beloved features of artists, musicians, architects, and more.New York-based musician Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani person to win a Grammy and to perform at the award show, told CULTURED earlier this year that she wants to push the boundaries of her artistry. Aftab's music ...

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily: NPR Tiny Desk Concert
    Posted At: May 12, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • A new, impressive discovery: 'Love In Exile' by the trio of Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily / Mainly Piano
    Posted At: April 26, 2023
    Mainly Piano's Steve Yip writes ... so new for me and I found myself having to play giddyup! As the refrain in the Rolling Stone song goes... “time waits for no one...and it won’t wait for me”. So I am scrambling and doing what I can to bring myself up to speed on some important musical gems!Released in March 2023, this album from my perspective, is a beautifully sensory, exploratory, experimental improvisa...

  • Arooj Aftab takes The Quietus through thirteen albums that have defined her life and career
    Posted At: April 5, 2023
    From her childhood in Lahore to studying at Berklee, the "New York hustle" of her 20s to her rise to international acclaim The Quietus - Jessica Wrigglesworth writes…..When she was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammys, Arooj Aftab had in fact been making music for the best part of two decades. A clip of the then teenaged musician and composer singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ from her b...

  • Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily share new 'Shadow Forces' video / Pitchfork
    Posted At: March 31, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Arooj Aftab/Vijay Iyer/Shahzad Ismaily - Love In Exile achieves awe-inspiring grace and beauty / TREBLE
    Posted At: March 28, 2023
    Love In Exile asks you to step inside its sense of time, to stretch out alongside these delightful and unhurriedly unfolding songs. Profound impact is achieved with minimal instrumentation:  Vijay Iyer on pianos and electronics, Shahzad Ismaily on bass and Moog synth, and Arooj Aftab’s exquisite Urdu vocals. Subtle musical interrelationships build into moments of deeply felt drama. Shimmering keyboard ...

  • Aftab/Iyer/Ismaily - Love in Exile coaxes an entire album's worth of pathos out of a handful of Urdu couplets / Pitchfork
    Posted At: March 26, 2023
    Recording live in the studio with just voice, keys, and bass, the trio achieves an almost telepathic connection: three seasoned musicians breathing together as a single organism. Pitchfork's BHANUJ KAPPAL writes…..Since 2015, Arooj Aftab has gradually distilled the essence of her work. On her debut album, Bird Under Water, the Pakistan-born, Brooklyn-based composer fused ghazal—a South Asian style focu...

  • Arooj Aftab wants more than a GRAMMY / Cultured
    Posted At: February 3, 2023
    This weekend, the musician is returning to the Grammys to perform her song “Udhero Na”— and potentially nab a second award in the new Best Global Music Performance category, for which she took home the first ever trophy last year. But while Aftab appreciates the accolades, she's set her sights on something more elusive.Cultured's Sophie Lee writes….Arooj Aftab has a complicated relationship with the Grammy ...
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