Photo credit: Tatiana Gorilovsky

Please can you tell us about your new album and UK album launch?

“Moon Over Mildmay” is my second album. I didn’t begin it with any kind of concept, but I really love the process of discovery, so I just kept finding – and making – the material that I wanted to work on. And when it was finished, it all hung together – a collection of meaningful moments, with a common impulse, set in a more diverse musical world than my previous album. What’s it about? Well, love – of course – but also about otherness, about life being an utter puzzle, and trying to find meaning and beauty in it all. Most of all, it’s about re – discovering my love of music and what this has meant to me.

The title song “Moon Over Mildmay” is about this. When I was moving from my ‘old’ life into my ‘new’ musical life, I was thirsting for sounds. I went to gigs almost every night. Driving backwards and forwards from west London, where I live – through Mildmay , where I was born – to east London, where the music was happening. As I drove I listened, often playing the beautiful Coleman Hawkins version of “Love Song from Apache”. It really got to me. I wanted to write something romantic like that, and the most romantic thing that was happening to me was rediscovering my passion – my love – for music.

I was lucky enough to work with aces on this album: Miguel Gorodi (trumpet) Oli Hayhurst (Bass) Kieran McLeod (trombone) Sam Newbould (alto-sax) Tom Ollendorf (guitar) Rod Oughton (drums) Àánú Sodipe (violin) and last but not least Matt Robinson (piano) who I’ve been playing with from the beginning, and whose arrangements give this album its feel, and enable my voice to do what I needs.

The album was released on 6 March, and the “Moon Over Mildmay” launch gig, featuring the whole 9-piece band, was performed on a rainy February night to an absolutely jam- packed house at London’s Mildmay Club.

What other projects are you currently involved in?

I play in a trio or quartet, mainly with Matt Robinson, Max Luthert and Rod Oughton and others. My next gig is at Karamel N22 on 9 April, where I’ll be playing songs from the new album. My ears are open, and I’ve begun thinking about my next, longer term project. And thinking is good – a lovely open and free time for ideas, images and stories to float in and perhaps take root… I don’t think of myself as a songwriter – but when I see hear music that speaks to feelings or experiences that I have or have had, then the tune tells me a story, and the words come. Or increasingly, it could be a poem or something going on that tell me another story –

What are you currently listening to and what was the last CD or download you bought?

I’m currently listening to the re-issue of Andrew Bird’s “The Mysterious Production of Eggs” . I was knocked out by his recent performance of this with the Britten Sinfonia at the Barbican. The last CD I bought was Billy Marrows “Dancing on Bentwood Chairs” – he is a brilliantly original composer, and the last vinyl was Corrie Dick’s great “Impossible Things” which I saw in performance by the original band at the Vortex recently.

What is your all-time favourite album and why?

Do I have to choose just one? There have been so many influences of various kinds, but among my favourites are “It Don’t Bother Me” by Bert Jansch, and “Portrait of Sheila” by Sheila Jordan.

Who has caught you attention recently that we should be listening out for?

Mostly I find myself listening to instrumentals rather than vocals, but I like anything by Liane La Havas – her voice! And last year, the amazing guitarist Shirley Tetteh quietly put up some vocal tracks on social media – gorgeous. I also like the New Regency Orchestra, SnowPoet, Testaments and a crazy Manchester band, Catbandcat.

For more information visit Tina’s website

Moon Over Mildmay by Tina Carr is available from Bandcamp