Of all the parts that make up the creative process, time and effort seem most devalued today. This applies to many expressive outlets beyond music, whether the visual arts or written journalism; even furniture making and design put little stock in the learned skill of executing a refined style of carving or decorative embellishment in an age when speedy self-assembly is force-fed to anyone looking for new homeware. And it has absolutely impacted music, with the technology of the day facilitating quick recording and release far above any thought of the subtleties that can lift a record or sequence of songs to another level of deep listening experience. And it is this very same disease of quickfire disposability that Biita Houdei has intentionally challenged head-on with her solo debut album, This Bed Was Made For Me.
The artist formerly known as Leponds undertook her self-imposed challenge in a multitude of ways, not simply by taking time with the compositions but also by allowing her working relationship and friendship with lead producer Hayley Heynderickx to evolve over eight years into a fruit-bearing collaboration. On top of this, Biita (pronounced “bee-tah”) committed to sewing a new patch marking the completion of the composition for each of the album’s fourteen songs, a project that resulted in the patchwork quilt adorning the bed on the album’s front cover.
Finally, with the writing stage complete, the recordings took place over ten full, back-to-back days, lending the project a unified texture and the pre-digital-age warmth Biita dreamed of from the outset. She recalls the studio as their cosy nest in rural Portland: a converted garage with shag rugs, lava lamps, and illuminated beer signs that cocooned them against the wintry rain outside the garage door. I believe the end product I am listening to today brilliantly highlights how putting time and effort into nailing these crucial, all too easily undervalued elements can feed into a work that exudes personality and feeling. The pulse of musical connection hits immediately on pastoral album opener The Ground Here. This track sings of scorched grasslands in Biita’s mind’s eye while the song’s lungs fill with the natural chemistry between Houdei and Big Thief’s ever-attentive Buck Meek. Among the other songs, I would hold aloft Fennel Knows as a shining example of the fine brushstrokes I have been delighting in, a tune that feels like it is blowing out of a misty forest glade. The singer confesses she wrote this one in a eucalyptus grove in Topanga, “sitting amongst the wild fennel that grows there.” The song’s underlying theme is one of absence and separation mixed with a desire to jump forward and take chances, a suitable encapsulation of the entire record.
There is also a tangible awareness of how time passes quickly, not always the most joyous thing to contemplate, but Biita magically finds a way, heard on Time Go Time Gone, to colour these reflections with urgency, hunger and desire, not just lyrically but in the elegant echoing sweeps of the music too. The same energy fuels Peach In The Briar, a free-flowing song that knits together several vignettes about Houdei’s stay at an artist residency in Georgia. Lighter interludes abound too; one of the best is the easy-going, sunny sway of Adelaide.
Night Fright pushes us into dizzying dreams of freak folk, a shining standout where Biita and Hayley’s intuitive connection comes to the fore with handclaps and intricate vocal weaves. The song itself is less spooked than you might imagine, more a case of cautiousness dissipating into the acceptance of a new connection that reveals fresh layers of joy the more it is unwrapped. A sonic playfulness abounds in other tunes as well, to be felt in moments like the leaping arrangement sensations on Frog Song, or how, in the “canyon cries” lyric verse of Burnin’, the voice is suddenly accompanied by cavernous effects rebounding as if the vocalist has materialised into the deepest part of some inescapable chasm. The studio as playground technique is explored even further on the title track, the repeated refrain of the earlier song Night Fright returning to be manipulated with speed adjustments and treatment from producer/engineer Sahil Ansari, a trick that is undoubtedly spooky but undeniably effective. As the record reaches its close with a tone that feels like retreating into winter hibernation, I can only marvel at the intricate and detailed patchwork that has been created here and applaud the patient discipline undertaken to realise it; often, if you take your time over something, the end product can be so much richer, and This Bed Was Made For Me makes as compelling a case for that approach, as you can hear throughout this album.
This Bed Was Made For Me (September 18th, 2026) Basin Rock (UK/Europe) and Father/Daughter Records (USA)
Order: https://biitahoudei.lnk.to/thisbedwasmadeforme
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: biitahoudei.com