Rostam has announced a new solo album, ‘American Stories’, and fellow musicians including Clairo and Tobias Jesso Jr. are involved.
The former Vampire Weekend multi-instrumentalist’s third album will arrive on May 15 through his own label, Matsor Projects via Secretly Distribution, and is his first LP since 2021’s ‘Changephobia‘. You can pre-order and pre-save it here.
The album will see Rostam blend together Americana and traditional Persian music. He was born in Washington D.C. to Iranian parents, and he’s collaborating with The Voidz guitarist and fellow Iranian-American Amir Yaghmai throughout the album.
“At some point in making this record I realised the album I wanted to make was one that reflected my identity as both Iranian and American,” he explained. “Pushing the most Iranian elements right up against the most American ones brought me a certain kind of joy.
“The first time I put microtonal saz melodies over Western guitar chords, I was thrown off by the way the two rubbed together. But the more I listened the more I became drawn to that rub. I became addicted to it.”
Along with Yaghmai, he’s joined on the album by a variety of collaborators. Clairo provides vocals on ‘Hardy’, while the Grammy-winning songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. has a couple of co-writing credits. Also present are the likes of Daniel Aged, Paul Cartwright, Gabe Noel, Hamilton Berry, Henry Solomon, Andrew Tachine and Joey Messina-Doerning.
The ‘American Stories’ tracklist is:
‘Like A Spark’
‘Back Of A Truck’
‘Different Light’
‘Hardy’
‘Forgive Is To Know’
‘To Feel No Way’
‘The Road To Death’
‘Come Apart’
‘The Weight’
Rostam has also shared the album’s haunting lead single ‘Like A Spark’, which you can check out below.
The video is taken from American Stories: A Concert Film, which will premiere later this spring. It sees Rostam team up with his six-piece band and director Antony Muse for an eight-song live performance at the iconic Sound City Studio A.
Meanwhile, Rostam will head out on tour in North America this May and June, supported by Henry Solomon, Elori Saxl and Zsela. He’ll then play five European shows in September, kicking off at London’s Village Underground on September 8. Bad Actor will provide support on all but one of those shows.
Pre-sale begins on Wednesday (March 11) at 10am local time – more information here – with general sale beginning Friday, also at 10am local time. Find tickets for North America here, and European tickets here.
In other Rostam news, he shared the original pre-Vampire Weekend version of ‘Campus’ last month. The track appeared on their self-titled debut album in 2008, and the original version is being released on a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl on May 15, the same day as Rostam’s album comes out. Pre-order here.