Rostam by Olivia Bee
Rostam has been writing and producing the record during the past three years, whilst he also worked on Clairo’s Immunity and Haim’s Women in Music Pt. III.
Rostam has confirmed the details of his new solo album, which is due on June 4th.
Changephobia’s themes and direction were sparked by a chance conversation with a stranger, as the Vampire Weekend founder member has explained:
“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.”
New single 4Runner is streaming now, following previous cuts These Kids We Knew and Unfold You.
Changephobia tracklist:
These Kids We Knew
From the Back of a Cab
Unfold You
4Runner
Changephobia
Kinney
Bio18
[interlude]
To Communicate
Next Thing
Starlight