File under R, because
Rostam Batmanglij uses
his first name only as
his artist moniker.
This guy, one of the
founding members of the
American super nerdy but
very cool Vampire Weekend
and the producer of the
band’s first three albums,
goes solo and releases
his debut record, Half-Light,
in 2017. It has probably
been since 2017 when I
listened to this album
last, so I am excited
to hear it again,
because, while I have
fond memories of it,
while I remember liking
it a great deal, I can
in this moment recall
nada about the specifics.
Weird opening track, spacey,
reverb laden production,
Rostam’s sweet voice,
layers of backing vocals,
big percussion divergent
from typical pop music drumming,
almost marching band-like,
“Bike Dream,” like the weirdest
from Vampire Weekend, catchy,
more traditionally rock but
guitars are indiscernible,
mid tempo and sad, the title
song, drowning in reverb, then
strings, chamber pop, a moody
collection of songs,
one that sounds almost
like a spiritual, or a folk
tune, and then something with
a middle eastern vibe, a sitar,
tabla drums, a moment or two
of dry vocal for effect, and
then back to the reverb; hey,
these drums on “Don’t Let It
Get To You” sound like samples
from Paul Simon’s Rhythm of
the Saints album, a guest female
vocal on a song called “Hold
You,” robot guest vocal on
“When,” various noisemaking,
nearly unlistenable, were it
not for a melodious hum in
the background, then here’s
a thing that feels like doo-wop;
everything is strange, mostly
easy to listen to, but
mostly impossible to pin
down and again drowning in
reverb, a record to sit with,
for sure, a record for some
meditation, only occasionally
interrupted by cacophony, the
penultimate song, “GWAN”
provides a beautiful end,
with those chamber strings
and the loveliest melody-
making on the whole record.
But then, after a short reprise
of “Don’t Let It Get To You,”
the vinyl has a fourth side,
containing four tracks for
which there is no
information in the liner
notes or the track list,
tracks that don’t appear on
the streaming versions of this
record. Strings and woodwinds,
the first tune is all that and
nothing else, followed by a
sloppy rock song, more echos
of Vampire Weekend, but with
more sonic surprise and wacky
experimentation. The third
tune is a warped synthesizer
instrumental, just a lot
of noise-making that doesn’t go
anywhere and makes me queazy,
and then the fourth track,
simply a reprise of the first
track on this side, as if one
didn’t have enough of that
already. I understand why side
four is an unmentionable,
because it is, unfortunately,
at least 3/4 unnecessary,
a spotty end to an otherwise
pleasant listening experience.
Notes on the vinyl edition: Half-Light, Nonesuch Records, 2017, double black vinyl, the fourth side of which includes four bonus tracks not mentioned in the liner notes.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
