After leaving Vampire Weekend in January, Rostam Batmanglij has been on a busy schedule. He has been putting out solo singles in “EOS” and “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” as well as helping co-write Francis and the Lights and Kanye West’s “Friends.”
Batmanglij has started a new group with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen called Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam. They have issued “A 1000 Times,” their debut track under the moniker. Check it out below.
The former Vampire Weekend member was featured prominently on Black Hours, Leithauser’s 2014 solo album. In an interview with Pitchfork earlier this year, Batmanglij mentioned that an album from the new project is in the works:
“I’ve also been making a full-length record with Hamilton Leithauser, which I’m very excited about. Our plan is to release it as a duo, basically, and every now and then I get a feeling that it might be one of the best records I make in my whole life. We worked really hard on lyrics and every song tells a story. In some ways, the more that I write songs, the more I feel that telling a story is the most important thing; just being able to close your eyes when you hear some lyrics and go somewhere. It’s worth taking the time to do that, because people respond to it.”
Ra Ra Riot announced Need Your Light recently, their follow-up to Beta Love. The LP will come February 19 through Barsuk. They have shared today a visual for “Water,” their collaboration with Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend.
The video, directed by Batmanglij and Josh Goleman, stars singer Wes Miles as a hiker who makes a long trek from the California desert to Los Angeles, eventually ending up on the beach.
The band have also announced a spring tour behind Need Your Light; find the full list of dates below.
Here’s what the band said about the video on Tumblr:
Hi! Last month we bounced over to LA for a couple of days to make a music video with our good (and supremely talented) friends Rostam [Batmanglij] and Josh [Goleman]. We set out for Joshua Tree at around 3:30 in the morning, with our boxes of Joe, rollerblades, and analgesic anamorphic lenses in tow, and by 5pm we were wrapping beneath the Santa Monica pier. There were a bunch of stops in between that I don’t particularly recall but apparently (spoiler alert) included wind farms, street hockey, and a guy in a tunnel with a tambourine. I think I ate a burrito at some point.
This video fits right into our whole (unintentional) MO for making this record – working with old friends for whom we have a ton of respect and, perhaps even more importantly, trust. Plus, Rostam had a hand in writing, recording, and producing the song (“Water”), and so it makes sense that he was involved with both the concept and execution of the video. Hopefully the result is a testament to the burrito fun we had making it.
Ra Ra Riot:
03-02 Albany, NY – The Hollow
03-03 Boston, MA – Paradise
03-04 New York, NY – Webster Hall
03-05 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
03-06 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
03-08 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
03-10 Savannah, GA – Savannah Stopover Festival
03-11 Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5
03-12 Birmingham, AL – Saturn
03-13 Nashville, TN – Exit In
03-15 Houston, TX – Walter’s Downtown
03-16-18 Austin, TX- SXSW
03-21 Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar
03-22 San Diego, CA – The Irenic
03-24 Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
03-25 Santa Barbara, CA – Soho Restaurant & Music Club
03-27 San Francisco, CA – The Independent
03-30 Seattle, WA – Neumos
03-31 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Biltmore Cabaret
04-01 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
04-03 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
04-04 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
04-06 Kansas City, MO – The Riot Room
04-07 Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock Social Club
04-08 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
04-11 Columbus, OH – A&R Music Bar
04-12 Millvale, PA – Mr. Small’s Theatre
04-14 Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Palace
04-15 Montréal, Québec – Bar Le Ritz
04-16 Geneva, NY – The Cracker Factor
The Melodic Tree 