Arooj Aftab + Alabaster DePlume
Chalk, Brighton

“I WAS gonna fight fascism, I was gonna … I was just a bit tired,” sings spoken word poet, activist and saxophonist Alabaster DePlume during his performance as part of Brighton’s Mutations festival. “I was gonna fight fascism … but honestly I just had so much on.”

The hard-hitting tune calling out political apathy in the face of a rising far-right finishes with the cautionary line: “I was gonna fight fascism … but it was too late.”

DePlume, wrapped in a keffiyeh, is not lacking pro-Palestinian sentiment either, reworking his lyrics to People: What’s the Difference? to sing: “People from the river to the sea” amid screeching blows on his sax.

The political message of his set is not lost given that he and the band perform on the day Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory was confirmed.

DePlume is also the perfect introduction to tonight’s headliner, the Pakistani-American singer and composer Arooj Aftab, herself a signatory of Artists4Ceasefire.

Flanked by her band and donned in trademark black shades and suit, Aftab’s deadpan humour sees her immediately exclaim: “What is this place … a dive bar!?”

She won instant acclaim for 2021’s poetical grief-inspired album Vulture Prince, dedicated to the memory of her younger brother Maher who died in 2018, and returns with latest release Night Reign — a delicious jazzy-folk collection of moon music that channels the nocturnal, the dark hours and the New York City nightlife of Aftab’s home.

Tonight’s set treats us to a smattering from both albums. Launching into the Urdu-sung Suroor and Diya Hai from the former, sees Aftab’s voice, unspeakably beautiful, soaring above the plucked strings and tight instrumentation from her band; special mention going to guitarist Giles Riley for some particularly invigorating solos.

Seemingly in honour of the single Whiskey, from new album, Aftab liberally hands out shots of the spirit to a grateful crowd before performing the song about a drink-fuelled romance.

Introducing Raat Ki Rani, she explains that the song is about meeting eyes with an attractive stranger before running away “because you’re not single … my partner really hates this song.”

Na Gul, inspired by a poem written by Indian 18th-century Urdu musician and courtesan Mah Laqa Bai, shows that Night Reign retains some of the yearning sound of Vulture Prince, while Bola Na, which reinterprets an old love song, seems ready-made for smoke-filled taverns with its funky bass line and jazz brushes.

Playing out with breakthrough song Mohabbat, which sees Darian Donovan Thomas gently plucking his violin, is the perfect end — Arooj finally transforming the dive bar into some kind of idyll.

Alabaster DePlume plays dates in the Uk April/May 2025 For more information see: alabaster-deplume.com