As a solo artist,
Rostam Batmanglij joins his most experimental sounds and confessional thoughts in music that expresses as much in its arrangement and production as it does with its lyrics.
Half-Light, his debut as
Rostam, was a vibrant musical memoir that combined a lifetime's worth of memories and hopes into a warm, dreamy blur; on
Changephobia, his approach is a little more concise and considered, but just as evocative. As he examines the scary, exciting, and rewarding aspects of change on songs imbued with nostalgia, he reminds listeners of his brilliance at capturing moods that are equally specific and universal. Even the songs set in the present sound like they're already fond memories. On "Bio18," a tug-of-war between stability and impatience,
Rostam asks a lover who may soon be in the past, "What's the emotion that keeps you in motion?" with the hushed closeness of a late-night conversation.
Batmanglij mines the tension of a world in flux sensitively and creatively throughout
Changephobia, musing on the environmental fate of the planet on "These Kids We Knew" and, more frequently, reflecting on smaller moments that have a huge emotional impact. As on
Half-Light, he's still caught between the East and West Coast on the swirling "Next Thing," where he doubles the syllables in "California" to hold all of his expectations and ultimately realizes that "some pain is OK." Cars feature prominently on the album as both intimate spaces and literal vehicles of change, whether
Rostam embarks on a road trip through a valley of echoing vocals on "4Runner" or tries to make a moment last as long as it possibly can on "From the Back of a Cab," where precisely ticking percussion gives the lie to that illusion. Though
Changephobia's sound is as meticulously crafted as any of
Batmanglij's music, this time he leaves behind the classical influences that dominated his previous work in favor of jazz and R&B elements. The baritone saxophone, an instrument he fell in love with after making
Half-Light, appears on many of the album's pivotal songs. It lends a dapper breeziness to the title track and the flirtations of "Unfold You," and heightens the swooning romance of "Kinney" and "Starlight," a sweet update of old-fashioned vocal pop that makes for one of the album's many standouts.
Rostam's music didn't need much altering, but on
Changephobia, it's more artful and heartfelt than ever. ~ Heather Phares