Joni Mitchell has talked about her first new album in almost a decade, managing a trademark swipe at the modern music biz in the process.
Speaking to Britain's 'Guardian' newspaper, Mitchell discussed her upcoming new album, tentatively titled 'Shine'. It is her first album since 1998's 'Taming The Tiger', and marks her return to music after her disillusioned 'retirement' in 2002.She told the paper of her disdain for the "pornographic pigs" at the upper echelons of the post-millennial music industry, those who only care about "golf and rappers".
Speaking of the "joyous music" of the past, she cites artists such as Debussy, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Louis Jordan as conceiving music "in such terrible times - and it was such a great relief to the culture at the time." But she continues, "That's the trouble with now. Now we've got a horrible culture, horrible times and horrible music."
Her new music emanates "bruised and unbroken optimism" according to journalist Paul Sexton, shifting from jazz to classical to pop.
"A real artist is going to like a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and it's going to take an entire life to assimilate them into something new," continues Mitchell. "It's not going to happen when you're young, and this is a youth-driven market. It's like painting: everybody knows, or they used to, that it takes a long time to distil all this. You don't become a master until you're in your 50s and 60s."
The 63-year-old Mitchell is set to release her new album in the northern autumn.
