Rostam’s third album, American Stories, arrives May 15, his first new music in over five years. The Iranian-American artist and acclaimed producer returns with a record that explores his life across dual cultural worlds. The music weaves together elements of Americana and Persian traditions, blending fingerpicked guitars, pedal steel, and strummed chords with microtonal Persian melodies. “That marriage of east and west felt like music that I needed to make for this album.” Interweaving his own experiences, Rostam’s lyrics are a collection of stories and reflections, “The Weight” takes place on college campuses in America in the spring of 2025. In “Forgive is to Know,” Rostam processes real events and the act of songwriting itself. Rostam makes sense of the end of a relationship in “Hardy ft. Clairo” and contends with humanity’s uncertain future. The result is a record that feels deeply individual yet unmistakably American. “Ultimately I hope listeners find comfort in this record and I want to leave people with a feeling of optimism.”
01. LIKE A SPARK 02. BACK OF A TRUCK 03. DIFFERENT LIGHT 04. HARDY FT. CLAIRO 05. FORGIVE IS TO KNOW 06. TO FEEL NO WAY 07. THE ROAD TO DEATH 08. COME APART 09. THE WEIGHT
