Kevin Bronson on June 15th, 2019

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With a voice that could calm stormy oceans and no small amount of wry humor, Bedouine held the crowd at a packed Moroccan Lounge in her warm embrace on Thursday, previewing material from her sophomore album “Bird Songs of a Killjoy.”

Of the album, the singer-songwriter, born Azniv Korkejian, has said that she is the killjoy — describing herself as a curmudgeon and a depressive. The music, though, is sweet, not sour, sublimely open-hearted while not seeming too wide-eyed about the wonders of the world.

It sounded all that and more Thursday night as she played true folk troubadour, segueing from storytelling to song effortlessly, backed by a sharp band of her producer/collaborator Gus Seyffert on bass, Jason Roberts on guitar, Derek Howa on keys and Josh Adams on drums.

They began the night with a couple songs from Bedouine’s 2017 debut before moving on to highlights from the forthcoming album (out next Friday via Spacebomb Records): “Sunshine Sometimes,” “When You’re Gone” and “Echo Park” — the latter feeling like a stroll around the lake on the sunny afternoon.

The songstress, whose full-band shows are rare, got the chance to set aside her guitar for 2017’s “Deep Space,” while poking fun at her own wardrobe choice for the night: a voluminous dress with lace fringe. “I feel naked although I have enough fabric on this dress to clothe all of you,” she joked. “But I’m only saying that because I’m imagining all of you naked.”

Korkejian, an Armenian who was born in Syria, reared in Saudi Arabia and emigrated to the U.S. after her family won a green-card lottery, did a song in Armenian backed by Seyffert (whom she kudoed for learning enough of the language to sing backing vocals) and covered a deep cut by Elton John, 1970’s “Come Down in Time.” She joked that Sir Elton had played her songs on his radio show so she thought she’d return the favor. “You know, just to let you know he’s a thing,” she smiled.

The show peaked with the 1-2 punch of “Dusty Eyes” from the first album and “Dizzy” from the new one, with guitarist Jason Roberts’ exceptionally tasty excursion highlighting a jam at the finish. Bedouine’s one-song encore was the sublime new song “Bird,” in which she sings “Bird, if your wings have gone clipped / As I pressed myself to your lips / I’ll release you.”

No joy was killed on this evening.

Opening the night was New York-based quartet Holy Hive, a folk-soul band of ace players led by the uneasy falsetto of Paul Spring. Harpist Mary Lattimore joined them for half their set.

Photos by S.Lo