Rostam has announced his new album, American Stories, which is slated for release on May 15 via his own label, Matsor Records. The follow-up to 2021’s Changephobia is led by the new single ‘Like a Spark’. It comes with a video from American Stories: A Concert Film, which premieres later this spring. Check it out below, along with Rostam’s upcoming tour dates.
“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 explained in a press release. “Pushing the most Iranian elements right up against the most American ones brought me a certain kind of joy. 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.”
Commenting on the cover artwork, he added: “The presentation of the flag upside down is something that the Left, the Right, and the Native American Land Back movement have all made use of. It’s a symbology that’s shared by all these groups and yet could mean different things to each of us. I’m interested in that conversation; that conversation is fundamentally American.”
The record feautures contributions from fellow Iranian-American Amir Yaghmai (The Voidz), as well as Clairo on vocals (for ‘Hardy’), Yaghmai on saz, violin, and guitar, Daniel Aged on upright bass and pedal steel, Paul Cartwright on violin, Gabe Noel on cello and upright bass, Hamilton Berry on cello, Henry Solomon on flute and clarinet, and Andrew Tachine and Joey Messina-Doerning on drums. Tobias Jesso Jr. also co-wrote a couple of the songs.
American Stories Cover Artwork:
American Stories Tracklist:
1. Like a Spark
2. Back of a Truck
3. Different Light
4. Hardy
5. Forgive Is To Know
6. To Feel No Way
7. The Road to Death
8. Come Apart
9. The Weight
Rostam 2026 Tour Dates:
May 27 – San Diego, CA – Music Box*
May 30 – Los Angeles, CA – The Ford#*
June 3 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel*
June 5 – Vancouver, BC – Fortune Sound Club!
June 6 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater!
June 7 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile!
June 9 – Boise, ID – Neurolux*
June 10 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room*
June 11 – Denver, CO – The Gothic Theater*
June 13 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line KCMP/Electric Fetus*
June 14 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall*
June 15 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House*
June 17 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair*
June 18 – New York, NY – Webster Hall#*
June 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl*
June 20 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club!
June 22 – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom*
June 23 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West*
June 24 – Nashville, TN – Basement East*
June 26 – Austin, TX – Mohawk*
Sept 8 – London, UK – Village Underground^
Sept 9 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie^
Sept 12 – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet
Sept 13 – Berlin, DE – Berghain Kantine^
Sept 15 – Stockholm, SE – Nalen Klubb^
# = with Zsela
* = with Henry Solomon
! = with Henry Solomon + Elori Saxl
^ = with Bad Actor
