As a child\, if you&rsquo\;re lucky\, summer afternoons str etch out like a yawn\, pool waves are as warm and engulfing as a blanket\, the safety of your mother&rsquo\;s arms feels endless. On her new album\, Neon Summer Skin\, Bedouine\, the project of Azniv Korkejian\, explores t his feeling of safety long before one can fully understand the concept. Wr itten with vivid\, honest and intimate imagery after visiting her family i n Saudi Arabia\, it tells the story of family and upbringing\, and mourns the end of her childhood. There is a singular resonance and newfound heft in this music previously unheard in Bedouine&rsquo\;s discography.
B
edouine is known for making gentle\, lilting folk songs that build fingerp
icked guitar melodies into tsunamis of emotion. Her masterful songwriting
and timeless melodies have earned her praise from publications like Pitchf
ork\, who said her music &ldquo\;boasts a surreal calm and lived in glow\,
&rdquo\; and Rolling Stone\, who lauded her &ldquo\;humble folk-pop brilli
ance\,&rdquo\; plus an NPR Tiny Desk Concert\, and tours with the likes of
Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty.
As personal as her songs have b
een\, they&rsquo\;ve often built upon universal experiences. The writing h
ere\, however\, is full of specific memories: a neon swim suit\, beads of
water dripping down tangled hair\, the blood of a lamb\, often sacrificed
at Syrian weddings\, oozing across the pavement. &ldquo\;It was the first
time I had the inclination to write a record about one main subject which
gave me a clarity and motivation I hadn't quite had before.&rdquo\;
Bedouine started working on the record after a trip to Saudi Arabia to vis it her parents. She correctly assumed it would be her last one there becau se her family was retiring to Armenia. &ldquo\;For my 20s and much of my 3 0s\, I couldn&rsquo\;t sit still\,&rdquo\; she says. &ldquo\;I would pack my car and move to a new place. I was so curious about my own independence that it just didn't occur to me for the longest time to mourn the past. B ut after that trip\, I came home and was so devastated. I couldn't place t he feeling immediately\, but as I started writing\, I realized I was proce ssing that I wasn&rsquo\;t ready to stop being somebody&rsquo\;s kid.
< p>Whereas Bedouine&rsquo\;s songs were once marked by their gentle acousti c guitar work\, she intentionally returned to the instruments she played a s a child while making this record. &ldquo\;My first instrument was piano that I begrudgingly practiced daily due to my mom's militant approach\,&rd quo\; she jokes. &ldquo\;My second instrument was trumpet\, which I starte d in elementary school. For the album\, I used a handful of valved brass i nstruments that I could translate my knowledge of trumpet onto (valved tro mbone\, tuba.) I&rsquo\;m proud of playing most of the instruments on the title track -- it feels like a true expression of what I was feeling and a sonic culmination of my childhood.&rdquo\; The record also features whipp ing flute solos\, swooping string arrangements\, and organ.She co-p roduced most of the songs with her longtime collaborator\, Gus Seyffert\, and wrote with the sweet pop melodies of Todd Rundgren\, Karen Carpenter\, and Carole King in mind. She also worked on a couple of tracks with produ cer Jonathan Rado with Michael and Brian D&rsquo\;Addario of the Lemon Twi gs. &ldquo\;It was important to me to try to approach some of the producti on of this record a little differently\, just to try something new\,&rdquo \; she says. The result is a fuller\, more playful sound\, at times grand and orchestral\, shimmery and surreal\, inflected with bits of psychedelia \, bossa nova\, and jazz.
Album opener &ldquo\;On My Own&rdquo\; is a contemplative piano and drum ballad that eulogizes her childhood memorie s while also lightly paving a path forward. &ldquo\;I should be glad / or should I feel free? / from all the distant memories / on my own again&rdqu o\; she wonders. The song is about\, &ldquo\;The chatter in the halls\, be ing witness to the constant fighting between my brothers\, but more than a nything the feeling of belonging to somebody\,&rdquo\; she says. &ldquo\;O n My Own&rdquo\; isn&rsquo\;t entirely wistful though. The ending guitar m elody beautifully wanders and flutters\, like a mind imagining a new futur e. Airy\, bossa nova-inflected track &ldquo\;Na Na Na&rdquo\; builds on th at idea that we are responsible for giving our own lives meaning\, even as we mourn versions of ourselves that no longer exist. A horn twinkles and a synth cascades as Bedouine reassures\, &ldquo\;Something&rsquo\;s happen ing\, always.&rdquo\;
While working on the record\, Bedouine realize d the pain of displacement\, of searching for home\, has been a throughlin e in her family history. Other relatives have also experienced this sense of loss as they&rsquo\;ve migrated between Armenia\, Syria\, and Saudi Ara bia. &ldquo\;I felt so frustrated about the places that I'm from becoming war torn or difficult to return to\,&rdquo\; she says. &ldquo\;My family h as been split apart time and time again.&rdquo\; This realization prompted her to document and honor her parents&rsquo\; lives and stories. On a fam ily trip to Houston\, Bedouine recorded a conversation with her mother and sampled the introduction to &ldquo\;Canopies.&rdquo\; The song tells the story of her mother&rsquo\;s time in an orphanage. She was put there by he r own mother as a way of escaping her abusive father. Nearby\, her mother would sing about feeling her daughter&rsquo\;s essence in the air: "The wa ves of Beirut's beaches flutter\, and how sweetly they blow my darling's a ir." It&rsquo\;s a story of profound yearning told with the quiet profundi ty of a flower blossoming.
&ldquo\;Everyone is older now\,&rdquo\; B edouine croons on the title track as a lonesome horn broods and meanders. The sun has bleached the plastic on the playground. The home that once hel d the comforts of belonging exists mostly in the realm of imagination now.
And yet. &ldquo\;Tucked into her room\, heavy as my hands\, my slee
py daughter\,&rdquo\; Bedouine sings. &ldquo\;Never thinking once of her s
afety\, only twilight in the water.&rdquo\; Life persists. It begins again
. In that sense\, this record is one of hope as much as it is one of loss.
It is searching for home and building it within yourself\, again and agai
n.
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