American Stories

The cover of Rostam Batmanglij’s third solo album depicts an upside-down American flag, a move that traditionally symbolises a nation in crisis—however, the stars and stripes have also been given a pastel-hued makeover that suggests a more idiosyncratic sensibility at play. It’s an effective visual cue for what awaits on <i>American Stories</i>, which sees the ex-Vampire Weekend member ruminating on his place as a US-born citizen of Iranian descent in a time of geopolitical unrest, while embracing music’s potential to foster cross-cultural connection. The opener, <b>“Like a Spark”,</b> sees Rostam channelling the pastoral hymns of Van Morrison’s <i>Astral Weeks</i>, before the introduction of Amir Yaghmai’s saz (a Turkish lute) forges a harmonious fusion of Western and Middle Eastern folk traditions that puts the album’s thesis statement in action. <i>American Stories</i> is, at its core, an acoustic singer-songwriter record, but one that makes full of use the eclectic production palette Rostam has honed on records by HAIM and Clairo (who turns up on the chamber-pop reverie <b>“Hardy”</b>), yielding a mercurial mix of dusty drum breaks, pedal-steel sweeps and microtonal melodies that make the album feel like a vibrant kitchen-table gathering where everyone’s welcome.