Strange Days

Former Transglobal Underground singer and BBC Radio 3 World Music Award winner Natacha Atlas is well known for combining electro-acoustic Arabic sounds with sub-genres of Western pop including hip-hop and reggae. It's a fusion Anglo-Egyptians call chaabi moderne (modern popular music) and has yielded nearly a dozen studio albums and various collaborations with artists ranging from Labi Siffre to Nigel Kennedy. Atlas' latest release, described by her label as a ‘darkly dystopian Arabic-infused jazz fantasy,’ extends her collaborative streak and widens her artistic oeuvre yet further with a collection of ten tracks produced by frequent collaborator and established jazz musician Samy Bishai (who also plays violin and electric guitar here).

With original songs and lyrics sung in both Arabic and English, it's a strong blend of two authentic musical styles; not just an arasbeque reworking of old jazz standards (other than on a cover of James Brown's ‘It's a Man's World’). There's a perfectly acceptable partnership with Joss Stone on ‘Words of a King’ but it's sit-up-and-take-note numbers like ‘Maktoub’ and ‘Lost Revolutions’ — the latter of which could well be a lament for the short-lived uprising in her father's North African homeland earlier this decade — that really make this album stand out.