12. Joni Mitchell
Around that same time I discovered Joni Mitchell and I just used to sing both Jill Scott and Joni constantly. This album of Joni’s particularly. I suppose when I discovered electronic music, so much of it was male and you realise that maybe you didn’t have a female role model and then you discover artists like Joni Mitchell or Jill Scott and their ability to write, to perform, produce, play instruments and it’s just amazing. The skill. And then, with Court & Spark, it’s one of those albums I can put on and I know every word and I can just sing along and that’s incredibly powerful.
The physical act of singing?
Yeah, I mean, singing has become sidelined a bit in my own work, but I love singing. It’s so personal and emotional. And when you really know a song, and you can sing it and it’s like it’s in you, or part of you, at a kind of DNA-level, you know? And singing is part of my family culture, our tradition and history. I know I’ll come back to it sometime.
