Rostam Batmanglij, Formerly of Vampire Weekend, Releases “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” Video

Rostam is a singular force. Hearing his solo material, it’s obvious enough that a big part of Vampire Weekend’s sound, from sweeping classical strings to dub beats, were a product of his ear for production.

Prior to departing from VW, Rostam lent his ear to productions by artists such as Jenny Lewis, Charli XCX, Sanitgold, Hamilton Leithauser and Carly Rae Jepsen. These collaborations hinted at Rostam’s interest in pop music and although his new single “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” doesn’t have a big glossy chorus, it experiments with trap beats and bubbling synths are an attempt to broaden his minimal sound into a poppier package.

For the song’s video, Rostam shares a director’s credit with Josh Goleman, whom he worked with previously co-directing Ra Ra Riot’s “Water” video. Here’s Rostam’s statement on the video:

After the release of the Discovery LP [a collaborative project with Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles] in 2009 I began to see people posting videos of themselves choreographing sections of songs from the album. It was then I realized I really wanted to make a dance video.

In 2010 I came across a YouTube video Jack Grabow posted when he was a senior in high school of himself improvising dance to the song “I Think Ur a Contra.” I was really proud of the drum parts I’d written for the end of the song and I felt like he was able to capture those rhythms in a serious way—I got a feeling he understood what I was getting at in a way that I wondered if anyone ever would.

In 2012 I finally got in touch with him about collaborating on a project. He was really into the idea, but I didn’t know what the right song could be at that time. When I finished a version of “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” in the fall of 2015, Jack was one of the first people I sent it to. I was pretty clear on what I wanted – Jack to choreograph a dance to be mirrored by another dancer for a symmetrically shot performance on camera. He chose to bring in Sam Asa Pratt. The two had been in the same dance club in high school and I recognized Sam from a video he’d posted of himself dancing to the song “Osaka Loop Line” from the Discovery album. The final version of “Gravity Don’t Pull Me” includes Sam and Jack performing the choreography they collaborated on and also improvised sections of the dance.

Rostam will debut his live solo show, opening for Brian Wilson, on June 12 in Brooklyn, NY at Northside Festival. Previously, he shared singles “EOS” and “Wood.”