Switched on Pop

Rostam reimagines American music

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The pedal steel and the saz both live in the spaces between equal-tempered notes, and that gap is where Rostam built American Stories.

Rostam joined Vampire Weekend at Columbia in 2006, produced the band's first three albums, and after leaving in 2016 made records with Clairo and Haim you can identify as his within a few bars.

His solo album, American Stories, reflects his experience as an American whose family is from Iran. He came into the studio this past March, just after the United States launched military operations there. It's a record that asks us to listen between two cultures.

  • SONGS DISCUSSED
  • Rostam "Like a Spark"
  • Wilco "What Light"
  • HAIM "Summer Girl"
  • Rostam "Back of a Truck"
  • Bob Dylan "Like a Rolling Stone"
  • Bob Dylan "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
  • The Supremes "You Keep Me Hangin' On"
  • Lou Reed "Perfect Day"
  • Rostam "Forgive Is to Know"
  • Rostam "Hardy" (ft. Clairo)
  • Clairo “Sophia”
  • Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam “A 1000 Times”
  • David Bowie "I Can't Give Everything Away"
  • Rostam "The Road to Death"
  • Rostam "Come Apart"
  • Rostam "Campus (Original Version)"
  • Rostam "The Weight"

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