Half-Light, the debut album from Rostam, is out now on Nonesuch Records. Rostam is known for his work in Vampire Weekend and produced each of their three albums. His kaleidoscopic debut album features fifteen songs that were written, produced, and performed by Rostam in his Los Angeles home studio. To pick up a copy of Half-Light, head to your local music shop, iTunes, Amazon, or the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl orders include a download of the complete album at checkout, and listen to the album on Apple Music and Spotify.

NPR Music calls the new album "stunning." Half-Light is "one of the year's most arresting albums," exclaims NPR's Robin Hilton. "Its breathtaking choral and string arrangements, idiosyncratic beats and intricate wordplay make it practically impossible to hear without giving it your undivided attention. Moments of profound beauty give way to a kind of sonic chaos and wonder that can leave your head spinning." Read more and see what Rostam has to say in a track-by-track breakdown of the album at npr.org/music.

The New Yorker says Half-Light is "a wondrous album, full of coy dreams and quiet yearning." The Daily Beast calls it "a sublime collection of baroque pop ... one of the more extraordinary records of the year."

Rolling Stone gives the album four stars. "Ex-Vampire Weekend MVP Rostam Batmanglij has ... refused to choose between his former group’s Ivy League-aesthete indie rock and modern vernacular electro-pop," writes reviewer Will Hermes, "opting instead to cherry-pick the best of both worlds."

"Half-Light is filled with lush details: closely mic'd vocals, picturesque scene-setting, weightless swells of strings, and electronic textures," says Interview magazine. "It's joyous and catchy, intimate and spacious, and, like its creator, exists in a musical world all its own."

New York magazine recommends the album on its To-Do list, considering it "a sweetly offbeat showcase for his tender vocals, sweeping string arrangements, and wistful storytelling."

Q magazine gives Half-Light four stars as well. It's a "complex, rewarding solo debut ... a stylistic hall-of-mirrors that refracts modern styles (R&B, electronica) through classical arrangements and eastern percussion." The Evening Standard gives it four stars too, saying: "Half-Light is incredibly rich and varied ... It may be [Rostam’s] first solo album but it sounds like the work of 10 men."

The Economist's arts magazine 1843 dubs it "a luminous record from an illuminating mind." Consequence of Sounds says it's "a quiet revelation that places his talents front and center, the key to unlocking just how instrumental he's always been, and will hopefully remain, for years to come." Gay Times gives the album four stars, calling it "a gloriously unpolished and big hearted pop record."

Rostam celebrated the album's release with an in-store performance and signing at Amoeba Hollywood yesterday. He does so again at Easy Street Records in Seattle next Monday, September 18, and in concert at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in New York on September 27. He will take part in The Growlers Six festival in Los Angeles on October 28. Rostam will tour Europe in November, including performances in France, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and London; European tour tickets go on sale on September 20. See below for details or visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

ROSTAM ON TOUR