SUMMER GIRL

While it would seem late in the season to release a song about summer, this terrific new single by the sister act, Haim is not exactly referring to the weather. "Summer Girl" was actually inspired by the band's producer Ariel Rechtshaid (who is also Danielle Haim's boyfriend) and his early-stage cancer diagnosis. She wanted to be his "summer girl" to bring him hope and light when he was feeling down during treatment and a song was created. The sisters enlisted musician, Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) for help on the track and he contributed the distinctive saxophone part. Although they later felt it was a little too similar to the sound of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side", Haim resolved that by giving the late rocker a songwriting credit. And Rechtshaid himself added a few touches to complete the track. Take a look at the whimsical music video for "Summer Girl" directed by filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson and was shot at some sites familiar to L.A. residents at the New Beverly Cinema, Canter's Deli and on Ventura Blvd:

HALF-LIGHT

When he was a member of the art-rock quartet, Vampire Weekend, Rostam Batmanglij was a major driving force behind the band as he was a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and producer of much of their material. The group (featuring bass guitarist Chris Baio, drummer Chris Tomson and guitarist, songwriter and lead vocalist Ezra Koenig) were together since their college days at Columbia University and released three critically-acclaimed albums with their third, "Modern Vampires of the City" winning them a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2014.

During his time with the band, Batmanglij teamed with Wes Miles of the indie rock band, Ra Ra Riot in 2006 for a side project called Discovery that explored electronic and alt-r&b sounds but after Vampire Weekend's last release, he began to further experiment musically. Batmanglij did some work for a film, teaming up with Charli XCX and Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran on a song for the soundtrack of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1", writing original music for a play by Kenneth Lonergan called "This Is Our Youth" in 2014, writing and producing tracks for Carly Rae Jepsen's well-received 2015 album, "E•MO•TION", producing the Frank Ocean's track, "Ivy" from his follow-up 2016 album, "Blonde" and worked on songs for recent releases from Haim and Solange.

All this activity may have led him to decide on leaving Vampire Weekend in January 2016 although his departure was amicable and open to working with them in the future. Now, going professionally by his first name, Rostam, he is ready to use his own voice to express himself and released his first solo album in September, "Half-Light". For his own music, Rostam further pushes conventional pop structures, using complex musical textures to create moody and emotional songs. Here are two tracks that best represents the inventive, dreamlike atmosphere on the album: