Over the last decade, Rostam went from being a member in Vampire Weekend to launching his solo project and producing albums by Clairo and Haim. His debut album under his own name, Half-Light, eventually arrived in 2017 and showcased his cutting-edge pop production. Now, after much anticipation, Rostam has officially unveiled details surrounding his sophomore album.
Rostam debuted the shuffling single “4Runner” Tuesday, offering another preview of his upcoming project titled Changephobia. Rostam has teased the LP with his previous singles “These Kids We Knew,” “Unfold You,” and “Under Control,” but the album has been in the works for some time now. The musician began drafting music for the record three years ago, continuing to write for it while simultaneously producing Clairo’s Immunity and Haim’s Grammy-nominated Women In Music Pt. III.
About the upcoming project, Rostam said described how the theme of change is incorporated into his music:
“A few years ago I met a stranger on a park bench, somehow I found myself opening up to him; revealing recent changes in my life that had altered its course, and he said, ‘Change is good. Go with it.’ I realized that I had never heard that sentiment expressed before. Transphobia, biphobia, homophobia— these words hold a weight of threat, and it occurred to me that the threats they bare— the fears they describe— are rooted in a fear of change: a fear of the unknown, of a future that is not yet familiar, one in which there is a change of traditions, definitions, and distributions of power. So gender, too, was on my mind while creating this album, as I came to find myself writing about love and connection but not wanting to place relationships in a gendered context. This collection of songs is not celebrating a fear of change. Rather, it’s the opposite. It’s about who we are capable of becoming if we recognize these fears in ourselves and rise above them.”
Listen to “4Runner” above and see Rostam’s Changephobia album art and tracklist below.
1. “These Kids We Knew”
2. “From The Back Of A Cab”
3. “Unfold You”
4. “4Runner”
5. “Changephobia”
6. “Kinney”
7. “Bio18”
8. “[Interlude]”
9. “To Communicate”
10. “Next Thing”
11. “Starlight”
Changephobia is out 6/4 via Matsor Projects. Pre-order it here.
