Los Angeles-based folk singer/songwriter Azniv Korkejian, who performs and records as Bedouine, has announced her third album, Waysides, set for an Oct. 15 release via The Orchard. Lead single “The Wave” is out now alongside a lyric video.
Tender and tranquil, “The Wave” layers Korkejian’s wistful vocals over a fingerpicked acoustic guitar, minimalist percussion and subtle keys, which fill the negative spaces around her heartfelt emotion. The singer/songwriter sounds overwhelmed, yet strangely at peace: “I cannot contain the way I feel for you / Or anything / I ride the wave,” she sings, making a friend of her own internal turbulence instead of fighting it.
“I wrote this about the loss of a close friend, specifically the swell of emotion I try to resign myself to when thinking of her premature absence,” Korkejian says in a statement. “She was someone who had an uncomplicated relationship with life and living. I often wondered ‘Why her and not me?’ I was trying to practice the things I was learning, to surrender to the fear and the grief … and the fear of grief. I haven’t entirely worked through it. Writing ‘The Wave’ was a reminder to feel my feelings. At a time of such collective loss I imagine there are people out there that could relate. It feels cathartic to share.”
Korkejian produced and recorded her follow-up to 2019’s acclaimed Bird Songs of a Killjoy—which itself followed her 2017 self-titled debut—both by herself and with musician/producer Gus Seyffert (Beck, Michael Kiwanuka, Dr. Dog) in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, and Yucca Valley, California.
Bedouine’s first tour since 2019 is set for this fall, featuring a handful of festival sets, as well as headlining shows and dates with Devendra Banhart, My Morning Jacket and Courtney Barnett. You’ll find her complete itinerary down below.
Watch the lyric video for “The Wave” and Bedouine’s 2019 Paste session below, and find the details of Waysides further down. You can preorder her new record right here.
Waysides Tracklist:
01. The Solitude
02. It Wasn’t Me
03. I Don’t Need the Light
04. Easy
05. You Never Leave Me
06. The Wave
07. This Machine
08. Forever Everette
09. Sonnet 104
10. Songbird
Waysides Album Art:
Bedouine Tour Dates:
August
21 – Abiquiú, NM @ Ghost Ranch Music Weekend 2021
October
13 – Big Sur, CA @ Henry Miller Memorial Library *
15 – Grass Valley, CA @ Grass Valley Center for the Arts
16 – Sonoma, CA @ Huichica Music Festival 2021
28 – Nashville, TN @ City Winery
29 – Birmingham, AL @ Alabama Theatre +
30 – Jacksonville, FL @ Suwannee Hulaween 2021 +
31 – New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater +
November
02 – St Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre *
04 – Chicago, IL @ Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University +
05 – Chicago IL @ Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University +
06 – Chicago IL @ Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University +
29 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl at the Linq Promenade #
December
1 – Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory Concert House #
2 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot #
(* with Devendra Banhart)
(+ with My Morning Jacket)
(# with Courtney Barnett)
