Biita (pronounced Bee-tah) means “unique” in the Farsi language. The name was gifted by her aunt to Lisa Houdei who has chosen to record her debut album under this moniker to feel closer to her Persian heritage. The idea of being unique is a grand claim and while Biita Houdei’s music is not completely unlike any other artist – reference points include Fleet Foxes, Weyes Blood and Judee Sill – it does have its own individual qualities. The patience and commitment that she puts into creating music is symbolised by her decision to sow a unique patch for each song completed. These patches became a full quilt and adorn the cover of This Bed Was Made For Me.
Her ambition was to create an album that does not reveal itself instantly but instead rewards a deeper dive. This is a risky proposition for a new artist for whom a bold immediate statement is an easier way of gaining attention. Fortunately, 6Music’s Gideon Coe has been a champion of the three singles that have proceeded the album so they have gained sufficient airplay to gradually work their magic on me and make this a highly anticipated full-length debut.
The second of those singles, the cosmic country folk of The Ground Here which features Big Thief’s Buck Meek, starts the album. Indicative of the patient approach and the “take time” tattoo on Houdei’s left arm, the first minute is a scene setting, spacious guitar instrumental strum before the vocals and harmonies arrive. The song is set in Topanga, California where she had moved and captures a landscape of dust and lizards running around. It reflects a yearning for the four seasons of her native Missouri and the song ends back in the lush rivers of the Ozark mountains back home. The sound throughout the record has a cosiness to it, reeking of the studio they used in Portland, a converted garage decked out with orange shag rugs and old, illuminated beer signs that hummed when they were plugged in. The tracks were run through tape and warm reverb plates from the 1970s which are probably the main reason for the album having a charm that suggests it could have been recorded in a wood-panelled country cabin.
The other singles are spaced throughout the album. The debut release, Life Inside The Hourglass, is such a fantastic introduction to Houdei and showcases her voice especially well. Crystalline, harmonious, vulnerable and melancholy, it is fitting that her vocals are at their sublime best when referencing the singing of a passing blue jay. The song has the vocal purity and spaciousness of prime Fleet Foxes. The most recent single, Night Fright, picks its way through two contrasting relationships; one difficult, the other gentle. A standout line is “you are strong but are you kind?” Beguiling woodwinds add to an especially melodious song which also includes the album title, although it is followed by the 55-second-long title track which acts as a warped, ghostly reprise.
To a degree, the studio sound together with the production from Haley Heynderickx and Sahil Ansari is the unifying factor as Houdei’s voice does not have a signature style and there is some musical shapeshifting even within tracks. Fennel Knows begins intimately with fingerpicking guitar and advice to “hold the ones you love like they really matter”, brings in studio echo and woodwinds, worries of medicine and plague before ending with the homely backing of cake and the closing motto, “it pays to take it slow.” On Frog Song, there is more baking and cooking taking place, walks in nature and the surprising mention of passing a McDonald’s bag, indicative of her unexpected lyrical turns, while the song’s rhythm hints at a frog’s movement. Full of contradictions, Time Go, Time Gone is wispy yet rhythmic, the vocal delivery speedy until it soars at the end of the lines, “time slows in my garden / and I process the madness.” The slow strum and whispered vocal of Burnin’ reflects her tiptoeing around the house. Adelaide has a sunnier guitar and reflections on friendship lifting her from a low ebb.
Peach in the Briar uses plentiful nature metaphors (references to sparrows, beavers, horses, fruit trees), starts with the narrator leaving and ends with her returning home. In between, her voice is at its most bruised but there are a couple of magical instrumental moments where the guitar opens out in a manner that conjures images of sunshine breaking through grey skies. In contrast, Window in the Winter is hushed and almost awkward in its melodic adjustments but produces an atmosphere of barren isolation and hunkering down for the bleakest season. The album concludes with the lullaby-like Bud Worth Biting, a tune that briefly soars as Houdei seeks “moments…to whisk me away.”
A well-made bed and quilt are comfortable and cosy but are nothing without a secure home which requires time and effort. Extending this metaphor, over the course of its 14 songs This Bed Was Made For Me offers a patchwork with some immediately enticing moments and a structure that rewards continued engagement. It is a record that benefits from familiarity with its shape, structure and emotions. While it would not be dictionary definition correct to say that Biita Houdei is unique, she is most definitely a remarkable talent.
Biita Houdei: This Bed Was Made For Me – Out 18 September 2026 (Basin Rock / Father Daughter)
Houdei – “Life Inside the Hourglass” [Official Music Video]
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
