Rostam team up with Clairo and Tobias Jesso Jr. to explore his Iranian-American identity on his new album “American Stories”.
The musician has also released the video for the lead single “Like A Spark” and has announced tours of North America and Europe for later this year.
The third album by the former multi-instrumentalist from Vampire Weekend will be released on May 15 via his Matsor Projects label, distributed by Secretly Distribution, and will be his first album since “Changephobia” (21). The album will see Rostam combine Americana sounds with traditional Persian music. Born in Washington, DC to Iranian parents, the musician worked on the album alongside the guitarist of The Voidzalso Iranian-American Amir Yaghmai.
“At some point in the process I realized that the album I wanted to make had to reflect my identity as an Iranian and an American,” he explained. “Putting the most Iranian elements right next to the most American ones gave me a special joy.”
In addition to Amir Yaghmaithe album features other collaborators. Clairo contributes vocals on “Hardy,” while Grammy Award-winning songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. signs a couple of co-authorship credits. Musicians such as Daniel Aged, Paul Cartwright, Gabe Noel, Hamilton Berry, Henry Solomon, Andrew Tachin and Joey Messina-Doerning.
The video for the lead single is part of “American Stories: A Concert Film”which will be released later this spring. In it, Rostam joins his six-piece band and conductor Anthony Muse to perform eight songs live at the iconic Sound City Studios Studio A.
