Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend has just announced his resignation from the band, in a note posted to his Twitter page.

Fans may have been able to glean some insight on Batmanglij’s departure from the fact that he released a single and a video earlier in January. He has also appeared in several collaborations with Diplo, and a live one with pop artist Charlie XCX.

In his statement on Twitter, he cited the need for his songwriter and producer identity to be independent of a band. He did also state however that he and current Vampire Weekend member Ezra Kroenig will continue to work and collaborate together.

pic.twitter.com/fYqZtwYkCU

— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) January 26, 2016

Batmanglij was a producer and multi-instrumentalist for the band, playing on all three of their studio records. The band’s last LP was Modern Vampires of the City, released in 2013.

UPDATE: Ezra Kroenig has given a statement about Batmanglij’s departure, and has indicated the band will continue:

A couple years ago, Rostam and I sat down at his house & talked abt whether our collaboration was dependent on being members of the same band. We both firmly agreed that nope, it was not. In fact, we agreed that our collaboration was more important. I'm psyched about the work we've already begun for LP4 and I'm psyched to hear anything else Rostam is a part of. Also very excited to continue playing music with CT and Baio but there will be plenty of time to talk about that later in the year. For now in the Vampire Weekend universe, it's all about recording the next album. There will be a lot of familiar faces in the studio but also some fresh, new ones. Working title is "Mitsubishi Macchiato"…for obvious reasons. Shout-out to the fans who have been waiting for new music – it's coming.