A soundscape of memory and the road ahead.
Despite her feature on Hozier’s latest EP and interviews with Rolling Stone and Vice, most of the music world has not yet caught up to the genius that is Azniv Korkejian’s cool, inspired sound. NPR has been preaching the Bedouine gospel for years now, but her music still feels tucked away and kept secret. Under the name Bedouine, Korkejian invokes her identity as a nomad. Born in Aleppo, Syria to an Armenian family, moving to Saudi Arabia and later the US, her music spans the story of her heritage and a life spent wandering between space and time.
Her self-titled debut album came out swinging. The first track alone, ‘Nice And Quiet’, brings the world to a standstill. Alongside a dreamlike voice similar to that of Margo Guryan and Vashti Bunyan, Korkejian’s production and songwriting make it hard to believe that the music is not even a decade old.
Don’t be fooled by the quiet, stripped-back guitar on many of the tracks. Korkejian can flip an album on its head in an instant and break out a steel guitar and organ. ‘One of These Days’, ‘Dusty Eyes’, and ‘Skyline’ on her debut album embody the Laurel Canyon sound, complete with lyrics lamenting life in LA. “The Santa Ana’s blowing and it’s calming me down / But it’s like you’re in the air when I get into town”.
Thriving in the realm of memory, her sophomore album ‘Bird Songs of a Killjoy’ continued Bedouine’s nostalgic thread. ‘One More Time’ mirrored the eddying of ocean waves to a relationship stuck in an endless cycle, and ‘Under The Night’ marvelled over whether she’d ever return to a lover: “Are we two people never getting together? / I will follow your roads”.
Retracing her footsteps with ‘Waysides’ in 2021, Korkejian released songs that were all written before her debut album. In revisiting the past, she found more peace than before, following the death of a close friend, who she eulogises on ‘The Wave’. “I tease the leaves of days gone by”, she muses, but despite trying to batten down her grief, she acknowledges that she must “ride the wave” instead.
The past is a powerful ally to Azniv Korkejian, a well of wisdom to draw upon in need. Even without the lyrics in mind, her sound on its own is a portal to a vision of California that has since dried up. Whatever the trials she faces, Bedouine allows herself to feel it and eventually let go.
