Natacha Atlas has been far from silent. There’s a wealth of music from this singular artist. Strange Days, her hypnotic, and musically blow your socks off, experiment in Arabic Jazz with Samy Bishai was peerless. The Inner and The Outer signalled a shift from Jazz back to beats mediated by melody, mellisma, and a meditative motif. Now, we have Parallel Universe, Vol 1.
In 2021, I had the great privilege of speaking with Natacha and Samy on my podcast about Strange Days, about making music like The Inner and The Outer, the life of an artist between worlds, and of the challenges of an increasingly polarising world.
That was then. Today, demonstrating the vitality and resilience of this incredible artist, comes Parallel Universe, Vol 1.
Parallel Universe, Vol 1 addresses the malaise we are all experiencing, driven by unhinged leaders powered up by divisive social media algorithms. It’s a panacea and a call for resilience. But most of all, it’s a resounding sonic adventure which demonstrates the vitality and skill of artists at their peak.
Zar 12 starts proceedings with a melodic, spiralling rhythm and a growing sense of unease. Unchanging Game seduces with a summery chant. Wana Leih layers voices with vocoders set to a buoyant beat.
The artists reintroduce freeform Arabic Jazz to metronomy, and the effect is superb, liberated. There is exquisite vocal layering; twining and climbing, Atlas’s golden voice spirals amid spoken interludes and chants, stoked by keys, percussion, and violin. There are echoes here of Batkalim from Atlas’s Mounqaliba album released in 2010, showing both the rootedness and evolution of this singer/composer. In Bahlam Biyoum (Dream of a Day), Atlas’s clear, bell-like head voice and melismatic quarter tones are richer than ever.
Rising above the beautiful bedlam, Atlas also has the freedom to lean into resonant and deep chest notes and a declamatory style, especially on the devastating closer, Somoud.
The more you listen to this album, the more you discover that what you took for melodic instrumentation is voice, that guitars are distorted violins, and call, response, and chant blend with the pulsing undertow of an 808 trap bass.
There’s a laser focus to this work, intimacy, and space too.
Parallel Universe, Vol 1 is the kind of album Massive Attack might have wished to make with Atlas and Bishai, except that Atlas and Bishai got there first. I’ve got this on repeat. There are layers and depths to dive into here.
Sanjit Chudha 