Vampire Weekend founder Rostam Batmanglij, now a solo artist/producer (Haim and Clairo), as well as known collaborative work with the Hamilton Leithauser, Lykke Li, Maggie Rogers and many others. Today, Rostam has shared a deluxe digital version of the album featuring two new covers, “Train in Vain” by the Clash and “Fruits of My Labor” by Lucinda Williams.

Both songs, bittersweet anthems to relationships past, fit perfectly within Changephobia’s embrace of endings and new beginnings. The uptempo “Train in Vain” barrels forward, allowing Rostam no time to look back, only enough to move on. With “Fruits of My Labor,” he lets himself sink into those memories, where sorrows arise, but so does a new clarity. Looking back also means witnessing how far one has come, a distance ultimately viewed as a victory.

Fusing his baroque sensibilities with newly introduced elements of jazz and neo-psych, Rostam’s current release Changephobia utilizes the latter’s improvisational nature to reflect the constant shifts, both cultural and personal, we experience throughout our lives. It touches upon global warming (“These Kids We Knew”), sex (“Unfold You”), and the intimate beauty of everyday spaces such as the automobile (“4Runner”, “From the Back of a Cab,” “Kinney”). Sax player Henry Solomon (Haim, Big Sean, Mon Laferte) is the perfect answer to Rostam’s pop background and vocal style

Rostam
Changephobia Deluxe
Matsor Projects/Secretly Distribution
Tracklist

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
12. Train in Vain (The Clash cover)
13. Fruits of My Labors (Lucinda Williams cover)

Purchase/Stream Changephobia Deluxe HERE