Rostam has released a video and official audio for one of the solo tracks he’s previewed since leaving VampireWeekend January 2016,The track “Gwan.” It’s a pulsating, largely percussion-less ballad; the rhythm is in the string section. The lyrics are vague and somnambulistic enough to suit the chorus (“But all of these dreams keep coming back to me slowly”) except for a passing specific reference: “Your face against the glass/Across 11th ave.” It suits the video’s NYC scenery: Rostam, mohawked and beaming, stalks around Manhattan in slightly slowed-motion,
At the moment among my favourite love sonsg is “A 1000 Times” by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam. It has haunting instrumentation coupled with Hamilton’s classic howl. It’s taken from the album “I HadA Dream That You Were Mine”. I have it on repeat on my Ipod, in the car, and on our dog walks, If I had thought the song was likeable when I first heard it on the radio, A truly incredible album from several very talented musicians. The throwback sound will make you feel nostalgic and the gripping vocals will echo in your ears. The somewhat surprising collaboration between key members of The Walkmen and Vampire Weekend. Plus a truly wonderful video.
Vampire Weekends Rostam Batmanglij and The Walkmens Hamilton Leithauser released their collaborative album “I had A Dream That You Were Mine” last September check out the music video for “A 1000 Times” (co-directed by Josh Goleman and Rostam) from the record. It stars both of their dads, as well as actors portraying the band at various stages of their lives. Leithauser discussed the video “Both of our dads are going to be the stars of this thing,” he said. “I’m really into that.” .
In a press release, Rostam wrote:
There’s a photo hanging on the wall at Hamilton and his wife Anna’s apartment. It’s Hamilton as a teenager in a white shirt and black jeans, surrounded by 3 of his best friends wearing the same thing; they’re playing in a band on some sunny lawn. It looks like they might be covering “Louie Louie”. I think this photo is hung at my eye level because every time I’ve been to their apartment I’ve remembered seeing it. At some point something must have clicked and inspired me to come up with this video concept— though I gotta confess originally it was meant for a different song we wrote together, one called “IRetired”. Also I want to give a shout out to Josh Goleman—this is the 3rd video we’ve directed together. I think we’re on to something.
Hamilton added:
The first concert I ever saw in my life was my dad’s band ‘The Del Ray Desperados.’ My dad was (and still is) the lead singer, Don Zientara was (and still is) on guitar, and there’s no question that’s where I got the idea that maybe I could try it some day. When I heard the idea for this video, I knew my dad would pull it off, and I also knew there was only one kid who could get the job done right. As anyone can see, Sam Nivola is only a few years (months?) from stardom.
The musical partnership between Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam Batmanglij began, as so many do, by disturbing the parental peace. The former lead singer for the Walkmen and former multi-instrumentalist from Vampire Weekend are both originally from the city of Washington, D.C., and they’d meet up when they went home for the holidays.
Leithauser, now based in Brooklyn, and Batmanglij, who was based in Brooklyn but now lives in Los Angeles, released their first collaborative album together, “I Had A Dream That You Were Mine” ,
Written and recorded from July 2014 to February 2016, the record pairs one of rock’s great voices with a pop auteur .The result are lush arrangements and doo-wop tropes Batmanglij toyed with on the last Vampire Weekend album and fills them with another charismatic vocalist from indie rock band The Walkmen,HamiltonLeithauser, who brings his smoky croon and elegantly rumpled lyrics.
The two first met in March 2008, when Vampire Weekend were in Atlanta to open for the Walkmen, Leithauser and Batmanglij didn’t start working on songs together until years later, beginning with “1959,” which turned out to be the final song on I Had a DreamThat You Were Mine . Batmanglij ended up writing, producing, and performing on two tracks from Leithauser’s solo debut LP, 2014’s “Black Hours” (“Alexandra” and “I Retired”). “It was a progression from there,” Leithauser says. They recorded almost the whole album in Batmanglij’s home studio in Los Angeles making it the first LP cut there—except for the drums, played by the White Rabbits Stephen Patterson, which they did in an outside studio.
They decided to bill themselves by their names, rather than as another HamiltonLeithauser solo record that happened to be co-written and produced by Batmanglij “We wanted to put the record out in that way that both of our identities would be intact, said Batmanglij .
The Fat Angel Sings 