Biita Houdei Steps Forward with “Life Inside the Hourglass”

A name change can be a flimsy rebrand, but for Biita Houdei it carries real weight. The experimental folk songwriter, previously known as LéPonds, has released her first single as Biita, “Life Inside the Hourglass,” alongside a new signing with Basin Rock for Europe and Father/Daughter for North America. The moniker, given by her aunt, means “unique” in Farsi. “I proudly take this name,” Houdei says. “This name makes me feel closer to my Persian heritage.”

That intentionality runs through the song itself. Produced by Haley Heynderickx, “Life Inside the Hourglass” arrived quickly, written in twenty minutes. Houdei describes it as coming to her “a ghost of sorts.” The result is a delicate, unspooling folk track that doesn’t rush, its spaciousness recalling the quiet tension of Heynderickx’s own work. Houdei has four independent albums behind her, and she’s toured with Jeff Tweedy and Heynderickx, but this release feels like a clear beginning rather than a continuity.

The accompanying video, directed by Houdei, aims to capture “the feeling of being in a void, without ties to space and time.” In that shrouded space, she says, she felt “the gentle pull to be vulnerable, both in the joyful and sad moments of the performance.” The single is out now.