Rostam announces new album, ‘American Stories’, along with 2026 tour
Rostam has announced he is set to release a new album titled American Stories, and has shared its lead single alongside it.
American Stories comes as Rostam’s third solo studio album, and his first to be released in some five years, following on from the release of his previous record, Changephobia, in 2021.
The new record, announced on March 10th, is set to come out via his own record label Matsor Projects. It will serve as an exploration of the musician’s heritage as he combines sonic elements of Americana and traditional Persian music from his native Iran.
“At some point in making this record I realised the album I wanted to make was one that reflected my identity as both Iranian and American,” Rostam said while announcing the album. “Pushing the most Iranian elements right up against the most American ones brought me a certain kind of joy.”
The former Vampire Weekend member added: “The first time I put microtonal saz melodies over Western guitar chords, I was thrown off by the way the two rubbed together. But the more I listened the more I became drawn to that rub. I became addicted to it.”
Reflecting this, Rostam has also shared the first single from American Stories, ‘Like a Spark’, weaving loose and sun-laced rhythms with a freeing traditional edge to create his unique mission statement for the record as a whole.
On top of this, the musician and producer has announced a run of dates across the US and Europe to coincide with the release of the album, starting on May 27th in San Diego, California, and continuing for the next few months before concluding on September 15th in Stockholm, Sweden.
It comes as Rostam’s first new work as a musician in a number of years, but in his capacity as a producer, he was most recently behind Haim’s acclaimed fourth album I Quit, released in June last year.
Rostam’s new album American Stories is set to be released on May 15th, while presale for his tour begins on March 11th and general sale begins on March 13th at 10am local time.
Rostam American Stories 2026 dates:
May
- 27th – San Diego, CA – Music Box
- 30th – Los Angeles, CA – The Ford
June
- 3rd – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
- 5th – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club
- 6th – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
- 7th – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
- 9th – Boise, ID – Neurolux
- 10th – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
- 11th – Denver, CO – The Gothic Theater
- 13th – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line KCMP/Electric Fetus
- 14th – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
- 15th – Toronto, ON – The Opera House
- 17th – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
- 18th – New York, NY – Webster Hall
- 19th – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl
- 20th – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
- 22nd – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom
- 23rd – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
- 24th – Nashville, TN – Basement East
- 26th – Austin, TX – Mohawk
September
- 8th – London, UK – Village Underground
- 9th – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
- 12th – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet
- 13th – Berlin, DE – Berghain Kantine
- 15th – Stockholm, SE – Nalen Klubb
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