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Kazakh artist Galya Bisengalieva's debut album was released by One Little Independent in September 2020 and is a concept record about the shrinking of the Aral Sea, which has been called one of the "20th century's more jaw-dropping ecological catastrophes, a consequence of the Soviet-era policy of diverting the two tributary rivers to irrigate cotton plants across Central Asia" (NY Times). Now, roughly a year later, Galya is releasing Aralkum Aralas. In Kazakh, "aralas" means mixed/reworked. Galya has thoughtfully curated a remix album of artists to respond to her work, having previously commissioned new work for her label NOMAD Music Productions. Those musicians are Coby Sey, Jing, Moor Mother, Jlin, CHAINES, and Nazira. Galya approached artists whose practice she judged would resonate with her source material and bring new light to the narrative. She was interested in getting responses from artists from such diverse backgrounds as Taiwanese, British, American, and Kazakh and often approached previous collaborators for their insight into her voice.