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Mar 28, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Bedouine

Bedouine, the project of singer/songwriter Azniv Korkejian, has announced a new album, Bird Songs of a Killjoy, and shared a video for a new song from it, “Bird.” Bird Songs of a Killjoy is due out May 31 via Spacebomb. It includes “When You’re Gone,” a new song she shared earlier this month via a video (it was one of our Songs of the Week). Check out the “Bird” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as Bedouine’s upcoming tour dates. Also below is “When You’re Gone” again.

Bedouine released her self-titled debut album in 2017 via Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb label. It was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2017 and one of our Top 15 Debut Albums of 2017. Gus Seyffert (Beck, Norah Jones, Michael Kiwanuka) produced Bird Songs of a Killjoy in his LA studio.

When Korkejian recorded and released her debut album she was an unknown and even some close to her weren’t aware of her talent. “After I released the first record and got a little press, all my friends said: I didn’t know you played music!” she says in the official bio for the album.

After all the attention, glowing press, tours, and late night appearances associated to the first album, Korkejian had to face up to the pressure of recording a satisfying follow-up. “The stakes do feel higher,” Korkejian admits in the bio. “The fact there are stakes to begin with! When I recorded my first record I had no idea if it would come out, and I was OK with that. It was just thoughts I needed to put down - a personal project. There’s something so beautiful in that. With the second record that feels a little compromised. I try not to get too wrapped up in how people will receive it but, whether I want to or not, that’s the reality.”

Still, with Bird Songs of a Killjoy she hasn’t radically reinvented or expanded her sound. “I don’t wanna call this a sequel,” Korkejian says. “It’s not necessarily a continuation but it’s not a departure either. There’s just so much there that I am still proud of that I didn’t want to put aside just because it came from the same time.”

Korkejian was born in Aleppo, Syria to Armenian parents, but spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia and then moved to America when her family won a Green Card lottery. She’s lived all over the U.S., including Boston, Houston, Lexington, Austin, Savannah, and Los Angeles. Musically she’s got a ‘60s/‘70s singer/songwriter vibe akin to First Aid Kit or Laura Marling, with some hints of Natalie Prass too.

Read our 2017 interview with Bedouine.

Bird Songs of a Killjoy Tracklist:

01. Under the Night
02. Sunshine Sometimes
03. When You’re Gone
04. One More Time
05. Dizzy
06. Bird
07. Bird Gone Wild
08. Hummingbird
09. Matters of the Heart
10. Echo Park
11. Reprise
12. Tall Man

Bedouine Tour Dates:

Jun. 6 - Brooklyn NY - Rough Trade
Jun. 7-8 - Sonoma CA - Huichica
Jun. 13 - Los Angeles CA - Moroccan Lounge
Sep. 7 - London UK - Queen Elizabeth Hall

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