Berenice Scott Talks ‘A Joni Kind of Mood’, Album Artwork And More

Your new album ‘A Joni Kind Of Mood’ is out now. When did you have the
idea of recording an album of Joni Mitchell songs?

I was listening to a lot of Joni Mitchell at a point in my life when I really needed
that particular music and poetic healing that only her music brings me, and as I
had been putting out a youtube series called “The Breakfast Club Sessions” it
was just a natural progression from that. It definitely proved to be one of the
biggest and most creatively rewarding projects I have ever undertaken!

Was it difficult selecting which tracks would be included and did you have a
specific process?

For some reason I started with her beautiful song ‘Little Green’, and then I
selected the others over a period time.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

I’ve lived and still live in quite a few different places, but I guess my main home
town would be London – Energetic, Inspiring, Angry, Unapologetic, Authentic.

The first single is ‘Hejira’ which is out now. What are your memories of
hearing that song and was their a particular reason why you wanted to include
it?

I must have listened to that song everyday for one particular year, and that year
was the catalyst for this project. I even ran to that song and the whole album! It
brought me a lot of peace and tranquility when I desperately needed it.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones
etc?

My Petrof piano is my loyal companion, creative friend and sometimes ruthless
critique when I am not on my best form! She can bring me happiness but also
teach me few lessons in the ‘practice needed’ department haha.

Do you have any live shows planned to support the album?

I do! I will be at Pizza Express Jazz club Holborn on Friday 12th January 2024.

How do you look after your voice?

Weird as it sounds, I forget to sing, so I look after my voice by reminding myself
to sing a little everyday.

Who did you work with on the album?
I had some incredible musicians on this album… Miles Bould (Sting, Daryl Hall,
Joe Cocker, Incognito) contributed beautiful percussion and drums… Scott Firth
(Joan Armatrading, Morcheeba, Steve Winwood, John Martyn), who is a highly
accomplished musician on both Bass and Guitar played those elements, and
Simple Minds bass player Ged Grimes added the gorgeous bass line on Hejira. I
was very fortunate that Glenn Gregory had a gap in his schedule and was able to
do post production and mixing to finish the album pre-mastering.

What are your future plans following the album release?

I’m really looking forward to playing the album alongside a few more Joni songs
and originals live, and we (Afterhere) have another project in the pipeline which
we’ll be getting stuck into once post production and scoring has wrapped for
BBC’s VIGIL 2, which we are working on right now.

I wanted to ask who designed the album cover?

I’m so glad you asked this! I’m not sure how many people are aware of this, but
Glenn Gregory (of Heaven 17) is an amazingly accomplished photographer and
artist. As he was working on the mixes he made some graphic art which he
showed me and I was just blown away… I felt like he’d really captured the feeling
of the album for me and what the title suggests… Being in a Joni kind of mood.

What makes Berenice Scott happy and what makes you unhappy?

Another cliche answer, but I’m definitely happy and a nicer person all round
when I’m creating. This will sound even more cliche haha but I’m most unhappy
when my loved ones and favourite people are unhappy and I can’t fix it. Alas,
such is life! I suppose that’s when music and art can be such great therapy yes? 

Photo Credit: Supplied By Hush PR

Berenice Scott releases A Joni Kind of Mood on 3^rd November. More info via https://www.berenicescott.com/