Jessica Shalvoy on August 12th, 2016

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With The Walkmen on “extreme hiatus” and Rostam Batmanglij announcing his departure from Vampire Weekend, indie kids had reason for concern. But Hamilton Leithauser and Batmanglij continue to make vital contributions to the indie rock and pop scenes. Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam, a billing that’s a nod to Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and producer Brian Eno, now exist as a super duo. Hamilton and Rostam started collaborating in their hometown of Washington, D.C., where they would meet up in Rostam’s childhood home over the holidays. What began as causing a ruckus in Rostam’s high school bedroom is now an album, “I Had A Dream That You Were Mine,” out Sept. 23 via Glassnote. Rostam has previously alluded to the importance of individual musical identity when he left Vampire Weekend and stays true to that sentiment with this new project: “We wanted to put the record out in that way that both of our identities would be intact.”

They teased “A 1000 Times” last month, a track in which, according to Rostam, “the snares would crack as hard as Hamilton’s voice.” It’s a punchy jam that’s cinematic in nature, seemingly a theme on the forthcoming album. Rostam says he pushed “storytelling to the front, the idea that a song can be a small story in-and- of-itself.” In fact, that’s why they landed on “I Had A Dream That You Were Mine” as the album’s title — it’s a small story on its own. Now that the indie princes are Facebook official, they’ve released a second single, “In A Black Out,” in conjunction with the album’s announcement. It’s a song that manifests itself in a dreamy state with twirling guitars, choir vocals, a vintage Americana bass line, and Leithauser being Leithauser. A song to get lost in.

||| Stream: “In A Black Out”

||| Also: Watch the video for “A 1000 Times”