Rostam debuts new music, covers Dylan at Free At Noon
Grammy Award-winning producer Rostam’s third studio album, ‘American Stories,’ is out Friday, and he’s playing Free At Noon the same day. Sign up to attend the show, or live stream the performance right here.
Rostam | Photo by Max Bennett
Rostam’s third solo album, American Stories, is out now and the man who helped shape the indie rock sound of the mid-to-late 2000s debuted live versions of new songs to a packed Free At Noon show here at WXPN.
The Grammy Award-winning producer and founding member of Vampire Weekend played songs from the new record, some older tunes, and even a Bob Dylan cover in Philly.
He opened the gig with the 2018 single “In a River,” a song he said was about a Massachussetts town that doesn’t actually have a river in it. Rostam didn’t name the town, keeping the New England town a hidden gem for himself.
New songs came next. Rostam told the crowd playing these new songs live for an audience for the first time was a thrill.
First was the funny-yet-serious “The Road to Death,” which saw accompanying musicians Mike Robinson making the pedal steel sing and Hamilton Berry plucking along on his upright bass as Rostam donned a harmonica on a neck holder to blow melodies into the air alongside his guitar work. The song is short, but oh so sweet.
The lead track from American Stories followed. “Like a Spark,” was released as a single in March and the most streamed song from the new record.
He then threw it back to 2013 with his own version of Vampire Weekend’s “Young Lion” and strummed on a 12-string electric guitar for the rendition.
The crowd got two more new songs in “Back of a Truck” and “Come Apart,” the latter involving some audience participation, which can oftentimes prove tricky for performers. Rostam showed the crowd the stomp-clap pattern that’s akin to “We Will Rock You,” and in typical fashion the crowd’s tempo sped up. Rostam reeled them back in and they kept time for the trio quite well through the song.
“4Runner” from Rostam’s 2021 release Changephobia was the penultimate song of the afternoon, with the final being a cover of Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” which saw Robinson on the 12-string and Rostam on harmonica.
Rostam told the crowd he was grateful to share the new songs with the Philly audience on album release day, and said how wonderful it was that everyone had the rest of the day to enjoy.
