Rostam, former Vampire Weekend member, has released a new guitar-led cover of the band's 'Young Lion'. The track, originally from their 2013 album Modern Vampires of the City, features backing from guitarist Amir Yaghmai. Rostam described the melody's evolution from piano to saz in the rework.
Rostam shared the reworked 'Young Lion' on Monday, transforming the short piano piece from Vampire Weekend's 2013 album Modern Vampires of the City into a longer guitar version. He performs lead vocals and guitar, joined by The Voidz guitarist and fellow Iranian-American Amir Yaghmai on the saz. The song was the only one on the album where Rostam served as sole lead vocalist and writer; he left the band in 2016 to focus on solo work and production for artists including Haim, Clairo, Charli XCX, Carly Rae Jepsen and Maggie Rogers. It originated during sessions for Vampire Weekend's 2010 album Contra, inspired by an encounter frontman Ezra Koenig had at a cash machine with a 'dreadlocked rasta' who said, 'You take your time young lion.' Rostam reflected, 'Those words just stuck with me. It was this moment where maybe someone had sensed this pressure we had put on ourselves to making this record. It was this cosmic voice speaking from a higher place perhaps.' He added about the new version, 'The piano melody in “Young Lion” was always inspired by the Persian music I grew up with. In this version that line passes from Jack’s piano, to my guitar, and then finally to Amir on Saz. I love that this melody can live all these different lives inside this one song.' The video comes from American Stories: A Concert Film, an eight-song live performance at Sound City Studio A with Rostam's six-piece band and director Antony Muse, set to premiere later this spring. Rostam's solo album American Stories arrives May 15 via his Matsor Projects label through Secretly Distribution, his first since 2021's Changephobia. Advance screenings are planned for May 5 in Los Angeles at Anthology Film Archives and May 11 in New York City at Brain Dead Studios, both sold out with Q&As and live sets. Rostam begins a North American tour in May supported by Henry Solomon, Elori Saxl and Zsela, followed by European dates in September starting at London's Village Underground on September 8.
