Joni Mitchell once reached out to Brian Eno in hopes of collaborating on an album of ambient music — a request the English polymath regretfully rejected.
The anecdote was revealed during a screening of Gary Hustwit's generative documentary Eno Wednesday (July 24) at Toronto's Royal Theatre, with the artist expressing how he wished he hadn't turned down a chance to create with the Canadian icon.
The first generative feature film, according to its creators, Eno's screenings feature a different version of film each time it is shown — a reported 52 quintillion possible versions of the film able to be created from 30 hours of new interviews and over 500 hours of archival footage.
Following its late April screening at Hot Docs, Eno returned to Toronto for two Wednesday evening screenings, for which director Hustwit presided over specialized software that cuts the film together in real time.
Eno's Mitchell story came during the latter of the two screenings, during a segment in which the artist was speaking to the rise of ambient music and how he became displeased that the term — along with "Eno-esque" — became shorthand for soft, inoffensive sounds.
During this period in which Eno turned his attention away from the style, Mitchell gave him a call and asked if he'd like to collaborate on an album of ambient music, only for Eno to say, "I'm not doing that at the moment."
In the present day interview, Eno laughs at himself in disbelief for passing up the chance, looking into the camera and saying, "Joni, I'm still here!"
During a Q&A with the audience following the screening, director Hustwit wondered, "Do any of you know Joni? You're Canadians, someone must have a connection."
Revisit a trailer for Eno below.
Eno's most recent solo album is 2022's ForeverAndEverNoMore. Last year, he released Secret Life with Fred again.. and contributed to Peter Gabriel's i/o.
This week, it was announced that Mitchell's influence and present-day reemergence would be chronicled in a new podcast. Earlier this year, the artist returned her music to Spotify, and had Meryl Streep author liner notes for a new box set.