Rostam Batmanglij, a founding member of Vampire Weekend, announced on Tuesday that he is leaving the group to pursue solo projects.
“My identity as songwriter + producer, I realized, needs to stand on its own,” he wrote in a note posted on Twitter. “Still connected to the people I work with, but through the songs we make together.”
Batmanglij played keyboard and guitar for Vampire Weekend since the band formed at Columbia University in 2006, co-writing the music for their most recent album, 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City, with the band’s frontman Ezra Koenig .
He produced the group’s first two studio albums and co-produced the third. Modern Vampires of the City was particularly acclaimed, winning best alternative album at the 2014 Grammy awards.
In his note, Batmanglij wrote that he and Koenig would “continue to collaborate on future projects + future VW songs”.
Batmanglij recently released a new single called “EOS” and has collaborated with a number of artists including Carly Rae Jepsen, Jenny Lewis, Wavves, Charli XCX and others.
“I can’t even begin to express the joy I get from writing songs, both of my own + with others, I hold it all sacred,” he wrote. “There is so much amazing music – all of it dear to me – on its way to you. It’s an exciting time. And I feel lucky to share it with you.”
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) January 26, 2016
In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Batmanglij indicated dissatisfaction with his role in the band, saying: “I understand the idea of me being ‘a dude in a band’, because people got to know me through Vampire Weekend, but it has caused a lot of frustration for me because I came from a different place from the get-go. Even though I’ve been making electronic music since I was 14, it’s hard for people to see you as a producer with a musical identity when you’re contextualized in a band that performs on a stage.”
