Rostam

About Rostam

Rostam is a GRAMMY® Award-winning songwriter, producer, and composer. One of the founding members of Vampire Weekend and producer of their first three albums, he has been described as one of the great pop and indie-rock producers of his generation, having produced for some of the most important artists of the last decade including Frank Ocean, Clairo, Charli XCX, Maggie Rogers, HAIM, Solange, Lykke Li, Santigold, Carly Rae Jepsen, Hamilton Leithauser and many others. He has released three critically acclaimed solo albums—2017's Half-Light, 2020's Changephobia, and 2026’s American Stories—while producing records for HAIM, Clairo, Vagabon, Leith Ross, and Georgia, as well as composing for film and television, including 2016's The OA and 2023's The Persian Version. His third studio album, American Stories is his most personal to date, one that reflects his identity as both Iranian and American. Rostam built the album around that same duality, layering microtonal saz melodies against Western guitar chords. The result quilts together Americana and Persian music while the lyrics tell true stories from his own life, including "Hardy," a duet that reunites him with Clairo for the first time since he produced her debut. Its cover-the American flag presented upside down-stands, in Rostam's words, as "both a reclamation of the symbol and an acknowledgement that there is more to do, for all of us, as Americans."