Biita Houdei has shared Life Inside The Hourglass, her debut single (out now) under a newly-taken moniker for the singer-songwriter Lisa Houdei previously known as LéPonds. The track arrives via Basin Rock in Europe and Father/Daughter in North America, accompanied by a video directed, shot and colour-graded by Seth Naugle.
Biita — pronounced “bee-tah” — means “unique” in Farsi. The name was gifted to her by her auntie, drawing her closer to her Persian heritage. “I proudly take this name,” she says. “This name makes me feel closer to my Persian heritage.”
Shaped in the shadows and sounds of the legendary Topanga Canyon and now anchored in the Catskills, Biita Houdei’s music is buoyed by a magic that feels beautifully untamed — wild-hearted sentiments drawn from the world around her, and from a fascination with the enchantment of it all. Life Inside The Hourglass sees time stretch and recline across a sub-three-minute strum that Biita says dropped into her mind “from a ghost of sorts” and was written in just twenty minutes. A reflection on outgrowing old ways and the humble nature of being witnessed, vocals weave together in a harmonic dance, seasons shift, sunshine appears, and bold psychedelic colours warm the horizon.
The song was produced with friend and fellow songwriter Haley Heynderickx in her first lead production role. Biita is joined on the recording by Sahil Ansari (percussion, bass) and Misha Kuznetsov (flute).
“I wanted to capture the feeling of being in a void, without ties to space and time,” Biita says of the video. “In this shrouded space, I felt the gentle pull to be vulnerable — both in the joyful and sad moments of the performance.”
Stream: https://biitahoudei.lnk.to/hourglass
Freshly signed to both labels, more is promised soon. A run of European tour dates follows in October and November:
Live Dates
10th Oct – Todmorden, UK – Natural Endings
13th Oct – Birmingham, UK – Hare & Hounds
14th Oct – London, UK – The Old Church Stoke Newington 15th Oct – Freiburg, Germany – Slow Club
16th Oct – Rodgau, Germany – Maximal Cultural Initiative
19th Oct – Mainz, Germany – Schik
20th Oct – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Lab Grounds
21st Oct- Köln, Germany – die wohngemeinschaft
23rd Oct – København, Denmark – Råhuset
24th Oct – Fehmarn, Germany – Café liebevoll
25th Oct – Husum, Germany – Speicher
26th Oct – Lübeck, Germany -Tonfink Kulturcafé & Bar
29th Oct – Hamburg, Germany – Hafenbahnhof
30th Oct – Berlin, Germany – The Fahrradkeller
31st Oct – Cottbus, Germany – Galerie Fango
2nd Nov – Chemnitz, Germany – INSPIRE
3rd Nov – Munich, Germany – Lost Weekend
4th Nov – Vienna, Austria – Sargfabrik
Tickets will become available from: https://biitahoudei.com/