Bedouine [CD]

Bedouine's singing is like rain down a granite ruin, sweet as jasmine in the summer darkness, lilting crystal movements, precise and sure, the kind of voice that forms civilizations. Bedouine has a story to match the name, Azniv Korkejian, born in Syria to Armenian parents, spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia, and moved to America when her family won the Green Card lottery. Living at various times in Boston, Houston, Lexington, Austin, and Savannah, she found a community of musicians in Los Angeles that feels like home. Working on around 30 tracks, with remarkable musicians like Smokey Hormel stopping by to contribute parts, Korkejian selected 10, united by a sustained mood and presence, to bring east for the Spacebomb treatment and Trey Pollard's expressive symphonic arrangements. It's a celebration of the patient process of recording and discovery. Bedouine's voice is at the center, a serene narrator, restless or still, taking deep pleasure in moments of trust and recognition, close observations or oblique truths, exploring the deep complications of displacement. Her eponymous debut collects two coasts, combining L.A. studio magic and Richmond's Spacebomb sound in a rich new world of style and song.