Stream: Bedouine, ‘Dusty Eyes’

0
bedouine
Bedouine (photo by Polly Antonia Barrowman)

Azniv Korkejian debuted as Bedouine (then spelled Beduoin) in 2014, and with this week’s release of the whispery, string-laden single, “Dusty Eyes,” the singer-songwriter introduces her self-titled debut album, arriving June 23 on Spacebomb Records. The project came about somewhat accidentally when she visited the studio of bassist/producer Gus Seyffert (Beck, Norah Jones, The Black Keys) to check out some portable reel-to-reel tape machines and ended up cutting a song. Over the course of three years, the two of them worked on around 30 tracks, before whittling them down to 10. She hand-delivered these to Spacebomb Records‘ Matthew E. White after a show, and he loved it. “‘One of These Days’ became our alarm when we woke up for almost all of that tour,” he says. Back in Virginia, label partner Trey Pollard added symphonic string arrangements, before sending the songs back to L.A., where Thom Monahan did the final mixing.

Born in Aleppo, Syria, to Armenian parents, Korkejian was raised in Saudi Arabia, and moved to America when her family won a green card lottery. After living in Boston and Houston, she moved to Los Angeles on her own, but ended up leaving when she was invited to spend time on a horse farm in Kentucky. She then spent a year in Austin, when to school in Savannah for sound design, before returning to L.A. where she works in Hollywood but finds her musical spirit nurtured in Echo Park. A lifetime of moving around and being open to experiences inspired the band name, and the songs are perfect for getting in the car (or maybe on a horse) and drifting off wherever the road leads.

||| Stream: “Dusty Eyes”

||| Previously: “Bright Lights”