Half-Light

Submitted by nonesuch on
Release Date
DescriptionExcerpt

Half-Light is the debut album from Rostam, who is known for his work with Vampire Weekend and produced each of their three albums. The kaleidoscopic album features fifteen songs written, produced, and performed by Rostam. "Stunning," exclaims NPR. The New Yorker says it's "a wondrous album, full of coy dreams and quiet yearning." The Daily Beast calls it "a sublime collection of baroque pop ... one of the more extraordinary records of the year."

Description

Half-Light, the debut album from Rostam, will be released September 15, 2017, on Nonesuch Records. Rostam is known for his work in Vampire Weekend and produced each of their three albums. His kaleidoscopic debut album features fifteen songs that were written, produced, and performed by Rostam in his Los Angeles home studio.

"It wasn't until I had almost finished this album and I was trying to decide what I should call it that I took the time to look up the word 'half-light,'" Rostam says of the album's title. "That lyric, and a large part of that song, had come to me in a stream of consciousness sitting in front of a piano years ago, captured in a voice memo on my phone. I had never stopped to figure out what that word meant exactly. But when I read its definition, and found that it had a double meaning—that it referred to both dawn and dusk—I started to think of how those times of day are part of so many lyrics on this album.

"I was also struck by the fact that it was a word with a double meaning. That felt important to this record. It made me think back to a friend in Japan who told me that the word 'double' was becoming more and more popular than 'half' for people to describe their split ethnicities. Any person growing up in America with immigrant parents experiences this dichotomy, of feeling both double and half. It's something a lot of us who identify as queer experienced growing up as well, slipping between straight and gay worlds, code-switching. I say experienced in the past tense because I don't know that that's the experience today's kids will have. Things are changing," he continues.

"I think what draws me to dawn and dusk as a songwriter is that those are the moments where we feel change deepest in a day. Those are the moments where I seem to experience the onset of a realization and the strongest feelings of optimism about the future. With this record, I'm trying to share some of those realizations and some of that optimism."

Grammy Award–winning songwriter and producer Rostam Batmanglij was born to Iranian refugee parents in Washington, DC, in 1983. He attended Columbia University, where he studied classical music and simultaneously focused on songwriting, recording, and production in his own time. In his last year at Columbia, he began producing the first full-length album of his career, Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut. That album would be the first of the band's three gold records with Rostam as producer.

Rostam announced his departure from Vampire Weekend in the beginning of 2016. By the end of that year he had contributed songwriting and production to several of the most important albums of the year—including Frank Ocean's Blonde, Solange's A Seat at the Table, and a collaborative full length with The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser; a playlist of his entire production discography is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Rostam Batmanglij
Additional production for “Sumer,” "Bike Dream," "When," "Rudy," and "Warning Intruders" by Ariel Rechtshaid, and “Hold You,” by Francis Farewell Starlite
All songs mixed by Rostam Batmanglij except for "Bike Dream," mixed by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios, and "Gwan," mixed by Rob Orton
All songs mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge, NY, assisted by Chris Allgood

Engineers:
Ariel Rechtshaid, Nick Rowe, Shane Stoneback, Chris Rakestraw, Justin Gerrish, Michael Harris, Rostam Batmanglij, John DeBold, Chris Kasych, Logan Patrick, and Dave Schiffman

Design and layout by Rostam Batmanglij and Ben Tousley
Front cover Polaroid taken by Ezra Koenig, 2005, digitally pixelated by Rostam Batmanglij
Back cover painting by Jake Longstreth

Nonesuch Selection Number

562886

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Rostam
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Rostam Batmanglij, vocals (1–15), drums (1, 3–5, 11), harpsichord (1), glasser (1) acoustic guitar (1, 3, 8, 14), drum programming (1,2, 5–13), sampler (1, 5–7, 9, 10, 15), electric guitar (2, 3, 11), piano (2-4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15), string arrangement (2, 5, 6, 14), bass (3, 11, 14), shaker (3), synth (4, 6–10, 12, 13, 15), 12-string guitar (5), hand drums (5), double bass (6), harmonizer (9), horn arrangement (11), slide guitar (14)

Cameron Mesirow, backup vocals (1)
Garrett Ray, drums (2)
Hamilton Berry, cello (2, 5, 6, 14), Tony Flynt, double bass (2)
Kelly Zutrau, vocals (3)
Nick Rowe, hand claps (4), lap slaps (4)
Jonathan Chu, violin (5)
Max Wang, double bass (6)
Andrew Bulbrook, violin (6)
Angel Deradoorian, vocals (9), choir vocals (12)
Abhiman Kaushal, tabla (10)
Binki Shapiro, background vocals (11)
Adam Schatz, saxophone (11)
Joe Santa Maria, saxophone (11)

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
2LP+MP3
UPC
075597935592
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597935585
Label
96/24 HD FLAC
Price
14.00
UPC
075597935653
Label
FLAC
Price
11.00
UPC
075597935615
Label
MP3
Price
10.00
UPC
075597935677
  • 562886

News & Reviews

  • Rostam, in celebration of the three-year anniversary of his Nonesuch debut, Half-Light, has released an acoustic version of the album's title track. The song, which was originally released as part of a compilation album benefitting Fair Fight, features Rostam solo and multi-tracked on guitar, drums, piano, hammond organ, and bass.

  • Rostam, whose solo debut album, Half-Light, was released on Nonesuch in September 2017, celebrated the album's anniversary with a show at the Fonda Theatre in LA last September. He has released a video from that night of a special extended version of the album's title track, performed with a string quartet. Each group member takes a solo turn that quotes from a famous melody, including the Gaelic tune " Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór," Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," the Shaker song "Simple Gifts," and Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights." You can watch it here.

  • About This Album

    Half-Light, the debut album from Rostam, will be released September 15, 2017, on Nonesuch Records. Rostam is known for his work in Vampire Weekend and produced each of their three albums. His kaleidoscopic debut album features fifteen songs that were written, produced, and performed by Rostam in his Los Angeles home studio.

    "It wasn't until I had almost finished this album and I was trying to decide what I should call it that I took the time to look up the word 'half-light,'" Rostam says of the album's title. "That lyric, and a large part of that song, had come to me in a stream of consciousness sitting in front of a piano years ago, captured in a voice memo on my phone. I had never stopped to figure out what that word meant exactly. But when I read its definition, and found that it had a double meaning—that it referred to both dawn and dusk—I started to think of how those times of day are part of so many lyrics on this album.

    "I was also struck by the fact that it was a word with a double meaning. That felt important to this record. It made me think back to a friend in Japan who told me that the word 'double' was becoming more and more popular than 'half' for people to describe their split ethnicities. Any person growing up in America with immigrant parents experiences this dichotomy, of feeling both double and half. It's something a lot of us who identify as queer experienced growing up as well, slipping between straight and gay worlds, code-switching. I say experienced in the past tense because I don't know that that's the experience today's kids will have. Things are changing," he continues.

    "I think what draws me to dawn and dusk as a songwriter is that those are the moments where we feel change deepest in a day. Those are the moments where I seem to experience the onset of a realization and the strongest feelings of optimism about the future. With this record, I'm trying to share some of those realizations and some of that optimism."

    Grammy Award–winning songwriter and producer Rostam Batmanglij was born to Iranian refugee parents in Washington, DC, in 1983. He attended Columbia University, where he studied classical music and simultaneously focused on songwriting, recording, and production in his own time. In his last year at Columbia, he began producing the first full-length album of his career, Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut. That album would be the first of the band's three gold records with Rostam as producer.

    Rostam announced his departure from Vampire Weekend in the beginning of 2016. By the end of that year he had contributed songwriting and production to several of the most important albums of the year—including Frank Ocean's Blonde, Solange's A Seat at the Table, and a collaborative full length with The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser; a playlist of his entire production discography is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Rostam Batmanglij, vocals (1–15), drums (1, 3–5, 11), harpsichord (1), glasser (1) acoustic guitar (1, 3, 8, 14), drum programming (1,2, 5–13), sampler (1, 5–7, 9, 10, 15), electric guitar (2, 3, 11), piano (2-4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15), string arrangement (2, 5, 6, 14), bass (3, 11, 14), shaker (3), synth (4, 6–10, 12, 13, 15), 12-string guitar (5), hand drums (5), double bass (6), harmonizer (9), horn arrangement (11), slide guitar (14)

    Cameron Mesirow, backup vocals (1)
    Garrett Ray, drums (2)
    Hamilton Berry, cello (2, 5, 6, 14), Tony Flynt, double bass (2)
    Kelly Zutrau, vocals (3)
    Nick Rowe, hand claps (4), lap slaps (4)
    Jonathan Chu, violin (5)
    Max Wang, double bass (6)
    Andrew Bulbrook, violin (6)
    Angel Deradoorian, vocals (9), choir vocals (12)
    Abhiman Kaushal, tabla (10)
    Binki Shapiro, background vocals (11)
    Adam Schatz, saxophone (11)
    Joe Santa Maria, saxophone (11)

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Rostam Batmanglij
    Additional production for “Sumer,” "Bike Dream," "When," "Rudy," and "Warning Intruders" by Ariel Rechtshaid, and “Hold You,” by Francis Farewell Starlite
    All songs mixed by Rostam Batmanglij except for "Bike Dream," mixed by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios, and "Gwan," mixed by Rob Orton
    All songs mastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge, NY, assisted by Chris Allgood

    Engineers:
    Ariel Rechtshaid, Nick Rowe, Shane Stoneback, Chris Rakestraw, Justin Gerrish, Michael Harris, Rostam Batmanglij, John DeBold, Chris Kasych, Logan Patrick, and Dave Schiffman

    Design and layout by Rostam Batmanglij and Ben Tousley
    Front cover Polaroid taken by Ezra Koenig, 2005, digitally pixelated by Rostam Batmanglij
    Back cover painting by Jake Longstreth

More From Rostam