The Joni Mitchell album that captures wanderlust, according to The War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall
Every Joni Mitchell fan will have one record by the folk legend that they hold particularly close. Her entire discography is more than capable of penetrating the human heart, filled with folk strums and unflinchingly vulnerable lyrics, but specific albums can forge a particularly personal connection. Perhaps you saw yourself reflected in the tender soundscapes of Blue or in the jazzier stylings of Court and Spark.
For The War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall, that life-altering Mitchell album was Hejira. Marking her eighth full-length release, the album was just as lyrically intense as her previous work, charting loss, loneliness and the general feeling of being lost. Instrumentally, it saw Mitchell push her folk soundscapes further with jazz influences and collaborators. It won over countless listeners, including Hall.
The War on Drugs drummer picked out Hejira as one of the records he couldn’t live without during a conversation with Spin, suggesting that Mitchell can “so perfectly put into words and music the feeling of wanderlust and the search for truth. And freedom.” These themes pervade her entire catalogue, but Hejira is certainly a highlight of her discussion of them.
On the titular track, for example, we find Mitchell travelling in some vehicle, sitting in some cafe, finding comfort in melancholy. She’s always somewhere in the in-betweens, wondering and wandering. Her vocals do the same thing, swinging high and low with characteristic ease. The words they deliver are always steeped in longing, whether it’s for love or for freedom.
Though her lyrics are an essential part of the feeling Hejira creates, so too are the instruments she surrounds them with. They veer in and out of folk twangs and strange bass lines to underscore the comfort in melancholy, but Hall credits their impact to her mastery of the rhythm guitar and her unconventional use of tuning.
Between these techniques, Mitchell’s sound is at once warm and decidedly unique. It’s what makes her music stand out from the rest of the folk circuit, allowing it to connect with so many. Her instrumentation is just as restless as her words, constantly looking for freedom, and always trying to innovate. It’s comforting and melancholic all at once.
Deeming it “Joni’s travelogue masterpiece,” Hall concluded that there will “never be another record like this, ever.” It’s certainly not an exaggeration – there will never be another Hejira – but elements of the iconic record can certainly be found in Mitchell’s successors. It’s in the warmth and wonder of The War on Drugs’ own sound, which can be equally bittersweet.
“I see something of myself in everyone,” Mitchell sings on ‘Hejira’, and it’s true. The influence of Hejira spans everyone from The War on Drugs to Chaka Khan. The comfort it provides spans genres and generations.
Everyone can find something in her discography to relate and connect to, because her music is so enduringly and intrinsically human. Whether you’re married to the gorgeous vulnerabilities of Blue or open to the magical melancholies of Hejira, her catalogue is full of worthy contenders for albums you simply couldn’t, and shouldn’t, live without.
Listen to Hejira, the Joni Mitchell album The War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall can’t live without, below.
