The Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter Bedouine‘s work has largely been inspired by a nomadic youth. As the mysterious singer/songwriter explained in press notes “I love exploring different places and sounds. My childhood was this amalgamation of different cultures, so I’ve never really belonged to a particular place. But being nomadic can be a beautiful thing if you’re accepting of it—not knowing exactly what you’re doing or where you’re going, but with conviction. Being experimental, even with your intentions.” And as a result, the singer/songwriter has received praise for a sound that has been described as sweeping yet hypnotic, esoteric yet familiar and untethered to a particular place.
Being a rather mysterious artist, Bedouine has a long-held reputation as both an outside and introvert, who prefers anonymity; however, she’s so passionate about creating music that she’s willing to share hers with anyone willing to listen. But interestingly enough, an aversion to the spotlight led her to composing music for independent films and art installations until she wound up in Los Angeles and found herself among a community of creatives — including musicians, who were touring with successful bands, playing arenas and stadiums, and then return home to play intimate sets in tiny clubs and bars. As Bedouine explained “It made the idea of starting over with my music less intimidating, and it made me more comfortable with the idea of performing.”
The mysterious singer/songwriter eventually found herself becoming part of the Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood (Los Angeles’s version of Williamsburg and Greenpoint), hanging out with some of the city’s most renowned indie and underground artists trading songs, listening to records and jamming. And interestingly enough, it was during a night hanging with some of her fellow creatives that she met her current collaborator Jake Blanton, best known for his work with The Killers, Father John Misty and Jenny O.
“The City,” the first single off Bedouine’s self-titled EP will further cement her reputation for crafting songs that are sweeping yet hypnotic, esoteric yet familiar and untethered to a particular place or genre, as the song possesses elements of AM radio rock, jazz, alt country (simultaneously) and in a way that sounds both strange and familiar — all while simultaneously being cinematic and evoking wide open spaces,
as the song’s arrangement is comprised of jazzy organ chords, sinuous bass chords, twangy guitar chords played through gentle reverb and gentle drumming. Bedouine’s plaintive and aching vocals float over the instrumentation while expressing an urgent longing.
The recently released video is an incredibly cinematic video that partially takes place in a desert and follows a woman, who appears to go mad from grief, dehydration and pain. The video then turns on a surreal and dream-like logic as she passes out — and in her feverish dreams, she encounters a kind woman, who has a way to cure her pain. The video’s protagonist eventually awakens to someone, who arrives just in time to pick her up — and strangely enough, the driver looks much like the woman in the protagonist’s dreams. It’s a surreal video that draws from French New Wave films and art house films, while capturing the longing and ache at the core of the song.
