EOS

Album: Half-Light (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Rostam is guitarist/keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij. One of the founding members of Vampire Weekend, he announced his departure from the band in January 2016 - this is his debut solo single. Batmanglij told Pitchfork how it came together:

    "I invited engineer Shane Stoneback to live with me for five day stretches to work on recordings. On the last day of his first trip I was fatigued from all the songs we'd worked on and wanted to start recording something new … I had this one idea from a while back stored as a voice memo on my phone. It was the chorus of 'EOS' and it had come out of me all at once: melody, lyrics and chords. It's rare that that happens for me - I'm always collecting ideas on my phone but usually it's individual building blocks of a song, this was the essential elements all coming out together.

    The rest of the song started to take shape because what I recorded kept reminding of a very specific place and time in my life. I wanted to capture that feeling, and finishing the song became about chasing it down."
  • The music video was directed by Batmanglij himself and includes animation courtesy of motions graphics artist Jon Race. The clip was based on a 25-second exposure photograph taken while visiting desert dunes just outside Jaisalmer, India.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)Songwriter Interviews

Steve Cropper on the making of "In the Midnight Hour," the chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers, and his 2021 album, Fire It Up.

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star Riders

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy and Black Star RidersSongwriter Interviews

Writing with Phil Lynott, Scott saw their ill-fated frontman move to a darker place in his life and lyrics.

Ed Roland of Collective Soul

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.

Penny Ford of Snap!

Penny Ford of Snap!Songwriter Interviews

The original voice of Snap! this story is filled with angry drag queens, video impersonators and Chaka Khan.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.