Washington, DC · indie pop · chamber pop

Rostam

1 upcoming festival

Ex-Vampire Weekend architect — ornate, warm-blooded pop as producer-auteur, harpsichords and 808s on equal footing, fingerprints all over a decade of indie.

Rostam Batmanglij grew up in Washington, DC, the son of Iranian émigrés, and was a founding member of Vampire Weekend, playing keyboards and producing the band's first three albums before leaving in 2016. He also recorded as one half of Discovery with Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot.

As a producer he has worked with Haim, Clairo, Carly Rae Jepsen and Hamilton Leithauser, with whom he made the collaborative album "I Had a Dream That You Were Mine". His own records, including "Half-Light" and "Changephobia", combine strings, harpsichord and Persian classical influences with programmed drums and loose, conversational singing, and he handles most of the arranging and engineering himself.

indie popchamber pop