Turbulent Indigo

The album marked her return to Warner Music (formerly WEA) distribution after her previous album, Night Ride Home, was distributed by MCA for its then-newly purchased subsidiary Geffen Records (which, prior to the sale to MCA, had distributed through WEA).

The song "Turbulent Indigo" refers to van Gogh, while describing the mental turmoil both he and Mitchell face in the creative process. The song "Not to Blame" was rumored to be about Mitchell's fellow singer-songwriter and former lover Jackson Browne, who was alleged to have beaten his girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah.^[9][10]

Mitchell also takes in non-personal issues, notably in the song "Magdalene Laundries", which recounts the sufferings of Irish women once consigned to Magdalen Asylums run by the Roman Catholic Church and made to work in the asylums' laundries. Similarly, the song "Sex Kills" referenced a number of late 20th century topical issues, including violence, AIDS, global warming and consumerism.

According to Matt Mitchell of Paste Magazine, the album's cover artwork features a self portrait of Mitchell "styl[ing] herself as a Vincent Van Gogh type."^[11]

Turbulent Indigo received critical acclaim. Q's Tom Doyle called the album a "welcome return to the atmospherics and acoustic terrain she's best known for", further writing that "The majority of the tracks here recall the wafting soundscapes of 1976's Hejira, with gentle, controlled feedback, Pastorius-styled bass, Wayne Shorter's tumbling saxophone patterns and walls of acoustic guitars providing a dramatic backdrop for Mitchell's bold lyrical imagery."^[12]

All tracks composed by Joni Mitchell; except where indicated

1. "Sunny Sunday" – 2:21
2. "Sex Kills" – 3:56
3. "How Do You Stop" (Charlie Midnight, Dan Hartman) – 4:09
4. "Turbulent Indigo" – 3:34
5. "Last Chance Lost" – 3:14
6. "The Magdalene Laundries" – 4:02
7. "Not to Blame" – 4:18
8. "Borderline" – 4:48
9. "Yvette in English" (Mitchell, David Crosby) – 5:16
10. "The Sire of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song)" – 7:08

• Joni Mitchell – vocals, guitar, keyboards
• Larry Klein – organ, bass
• Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone on tracks: 1, 4, 7, 9, 10
• Jim Keltner – drums on "Sunny Sunday"
• Carlos Vega – drums on tracks: 3, 4, 7
• Michael Landau – electric guitar on tracks: 2, 3
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar on tracks: 7, 8
• Steuart Smith – guitar on "How Do You Stop"
• Seal – vocals on "How Do You Stop"
• Bill Dillon – synthesizer on "Yvette in English"
• Charles Valentino – backing vocals on "Yvette in English"
• Kris Kello – backing vocals on "Yvette in English"