Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily played the ICA – 10/8
The Love in Exile trio held court at the Institute of Contemporary Art’s waterfront theater last Sunday.
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Attempts to fully classify Love in Exile – the debut collaboration between vocalist Arooj Aftab, pianist Vijay Iyer and bassist/keyboardist Shahzad Ismaily – may prove fruitless. The project is in part derived from jazz, the ambient and electronic universe and South Asian musical and poetic tradition, but the trio are remaking those elements into something wholly their own. That alchemy was working in full force at the ICA last Sunday night, where the three presented a spellbinding set to a sold-out crowd.
I’m most accustomed to seeing live music at the museum in their outdoor deck setting, which is a lovely spot for a breezy summer evening show. This was obviously not that, owing both to it being October and to the performance itself – at times so hushed that the din of the harbor would’ve drowned it out entirely. (As it was I took a grand total of 18 photos during the set, for fear of my shutter doing the same). The ICA’s indoor performance space suited the vibe perfectly though, with its glass walls overlooking a darkened sea that felt like an extension of the musical atmosphere.
Like the Love in Exile LP, the performance took on an oft-hypnotic quality as Aftab’s vocals and the acoustic and synthesized instrumentals of Iyer and Ismaily ebbed and flowed in tone and volume, sometimes droning, sometimes sparkling. There were indeed moments of extreme quiet, but those of dissonance, too – something Aftab described as a necessary exercise. “The music we listen to should reflect how scared we feel,” she explained in one of a few asides illuminating the trio’s approach to their live performances, which are improvisatory and played “as a feeling.”
In that sense, the unfamiliar awaited both the performers and audience throughout the proceedings, but the reverent crowd was focused and willing to follow wherever the path led. Aftab remarked that her years at Berklee characterized Bostonians to her as astute listeners in an interview with the Globe ahead of the show, and that did feel true in the context of this evening where a few hundred of us sat transfixed together.
Check out a few photos from the show below.
