Los Angeles-based indie-folk artist Azniv Korkejian, who records as Bedouine, has shared “The Solitude,” the third and final single released from her forthcoming album Waysides out Oct. 22 via The Orchard.
“The Solitude,” the opening track of Waysides, is inspired from a line of Joni Mitchell’s “My Old Man.” In a press release, Korkejian recalls:
I was listening to Joni Mitchell’s “My Old Man” and kept returning to the lyric “The bed’s too big / The frying pan’s too wide.” I was so taken by that; conveying a feeling by describing a change in proportions. I wanted to expand on that and it became kind of an homage. Otherwise, it’s about the realization that I’m not impervious to codependencies or being in denial about them.
The Mitchell inspiration illuminates the track, as Korkejian sings of too many pillows and one-sided dinner tables, with resonating emotional intimacy residing in her vocals and dainty guitar playing backing it. There is a breeziness and warmth to “The Solitude,” sounding as if it could have time-traveled from 1971.
Directed by Korkejian and Dre Babinski, the video echoes this vintage spirit, following a housewife as she surfs through television channels, one in which Korkejian is performing on. The video becomes increasingly playful as the song continues — Korkejian plays guitar, tries on hats and finds a television remote herself.
“The Solitude” follows “It Wasn’t Me” and “The Wave” from Waysides, the album comprised entirely of songs from her previous work that was left either unreleased or unrecorded.
Following the release of Waysides, Korkejian will embark on a US tour with My Morning Jacket and Courtney Barnett. She will later tour the UK in February 2022.