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Rostam Shares “Hardy” With Clairo Ahead of American Stories
Rostam reunites with Clairo on “Hardy,” a long-held track from American Stories built around strings, samples, and bittersweet nostalgia.
Rostam and Clairo’s collaboration history runs back to 2019, when the former Vampire Weekend member and the teenage indie-pop standout Claire Cottrill helped shape Immunity, Clairo’s debut album. Now the two are back together on “Hardy,” the latest glimpse of Rostam’s upcoming solo LP American Stories, out later this week and set to feature Clairo as the project’s only guest.
The song arrives after Rostam already rolled out early singles “Like A Spark” and “Back Of A Truck,” but “Hardy” feels especially loaded with history. The track takes its name from French singer François Hardy, whose sample was originally intended to appear in the song. That idea is no longer part of the finished version, though the record still keeps a cinematic pull through a sample of Georges Delerue’s score for François Truffaut’s classic Day For Night.
Rostam has, in fact, been holding onto the instrumental since 2012. The released version also brings in cello from Hamilton Berry, bass clarinet from Henry Solomon, and piano from Rostam himself. It’s the kind of arrangement that doesn’t just sit in the background; it gives the whole song its shape.
More than anything, though, “Hardy” belongs to that bright string figure at its center. It gives the song a vivid, almost effervescent frame, one that suits the bittersweet quality of the writing around it. Rostam layers in drums and effects with a light touch, singing in a sleepy murmur that never competes with the arrangement. When Clairo enters, her voice does what it tends to do so well: it seems to hover just above the track.
“Hardy” is a song about looking forward and looking back. Ultimately, I hope it leaves you with some feeling of hope for the future. I’m so happy Claire could make a guest appearance and sing her own section of the song — I have always loved the way her voice communicates optimism.
That’s Rostam in the press release, and it matches the mood here pretty closely. The Antony Muse-directed video is out below.
American Stories is out 5/15 on Matsor Projects/Secretly Distribution.
