If you’ve been following the ever-ascendant trajectory of Rostam Batmanglij, the Iranian-bred, Ivy League educated, multi-instrumental sweetheart whose production and arrangement acumen helped launch his college band Vampire Weekend into the stratosphere, then this here is big news. If you haven’t, welcome to the world of a polyglot artist/producer who has worked on some of your favorite records (the most recent LPs from Frank Ocean and Solange in addition to Charli XCX, the Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser, Santigold, amongst many others). Even for you newly initiated, this is big news. And good news. Rostam’s long-awaited solo LP is out this fall, and the singles are coming with a quickness.
Rostam’s solo work incorporates the dizzying array of influences and production techniques he’s employed with that diverse set of artists. The songs often feature strings (he’s an ace arranger), interestingly recorded percussion (often utilizing the rhythms or instruments of his homeland or other far-away places), piano, and that gentle voice. The new single “Bike Dream” brings a few of those pieces together into a love song about desire and decisions. It’s a decidedly NYC track, with references to 14th Street and hailing cabs, though Rostam has been living in LA for over three years. That gives you a sense of how long this material’s been gestating. (In fact it’s been almost a decade.) Listen well:
Just Monday night I saw Rostam at his sold-out show in LA at the Masonic Lodge in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That’s where that photo is from. It was a heartfelt affair.
Rostam’s solo debut LP [i]Half-Light[/i] will be out September 8th, 2017 via Nonesuch Records. The name has a great origin story, too. Per Rostam:
“[The phrase “Half-light”] made me think back to a friend in Japan who told me that the word ’double’ was becoming more and more popular than ’half’ for people to describe their split ethnicities. Any person growing up in America with immigrant parents experiences this dichotomy, of feeling both double and half. It’s something a lot of us who identify as queer experienced growing up as well, slipping between straight and gay worlds, code-switching. I say experienced in the past tense because I don’t know that that’s the experience today’s kids will have. Things are changing.”
Hear, here. I’ll leave you with another single from the LP, the ineffable “Gwan.”