Biita Houdei’s “Life Inside the Hourglass” is an emotional reflection on the passing of time

Houdei isn't entirely sure she wrote “Life Inside the Hourglass”. “I don't even remember really writing it,” she confesses. “It's crazy. I just sat down, and it just happened.” Previously known as LéPonds, Houdei has been making music for a long time, across many projects and albums. But now, she’s firmly focused on her new project. Biita means "unique" in the Farsi language, and makes her feel closer to her Persian heritage.

It came together through her close friend, singer/songwriter Haley Heynderickx. “My friend Haley kind of put herself forward, 'Should we do it? Should I produce your next album?' and I was like, 'Obviously, yes.'” The project then snowballed. Houdei shared over 20 demos with Heynderickx, in her first lead production role. Some nearly ten years old, most new and together, they curated a collection that told a cohesive story, a bundle which would become “Life Inside the Hourglass” and more.

Raised in rural Missouri, now based in LA, Houdei lives a somewhat nomadic life seeking places to remain inspired, most recently settling into a cabin in the woods of Woodstock, New York. “Life inside the Hourglass” is a track that makes you sit still and listen, really listen. Working with Hendrickx and producer Sahil Ansari, “It was winter in Portland. It was cold and rainy, and we were just together in this tiny space for eight to nine, ten hours a day.”

Lyrically the song reflects its title, exploring the feeling of time slipping away. “I hope humans will kind of gravitate toward the present moment more than living in future and past,” Houdei says. “Life Inside the Hourglass” reflects on flux relationships, the battle with regret, and the complex beauty of letting things go. Now in her mid-30s, Houdei is embracing nostalgia both painful and joyous in equal measure, playing out the faces and places that pass through a lifetime.

The song rests on a bed of steely guitar, with glimmery flute and Houdei's layered vocals creating a warm chamber of harmonies. Thoughtfully textured, it has the quality of an ASMR recording, the kind of thing you put on repeat without meaning to. That simplicity was intentional. “It's just guitar, vocals, flute. Big reverb plate from the studio, and Sahil did some percussion,” she explains. Houdei had severe demo love, and the final recording stayed close to that original sketch, stripped back and raw, exactly how she imagined it.

Shot alone in a dark studio space, a single bright light trained on her, Houdei matches the intimacy of her song with a visual that begins in quiet elation before a slow shift. Her expressions fading from smiles to tears, it captures the viewer and sits as a piece of art in its own right.

With two more singles on the way, the next she calls "the banger of all bangers”, and more tracks in the works via Basin Rock (Europe) and Father/Daughter Records (North America), there's a lot on the horizon for Biita Houdei. She'll be taking her new music live this autumn, tour stops including The Old Church in Hackney, London in October. For now though, she's hunkered down in that Woodstock cabin, reflecting and writing.