Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Smiles About "Smilers"

Word is out from Aimee Mann's Web site that she has a new album in the works - "Smilers." Ggiven her penchant for cutting lyrics and stories about people with intense emotional problems, dysfunctional personalities or dependency issues, I suspect the album will have little to do with smiling.

But it may prompt a few chuckles. Mann has a way with a lyric, often penning cutting odes that use irony and word choice to insinuate their way into one's consciousness. One of my favorites, penned to someone one drugs, one suspects: "They'll have a big parade / For every day that you stay clean / But when the trumpets fade /You'll go under like a submarine" (from "Going Through the Motions," on her last album, "The Forgotten Arm.")

Mann's discs aren't the most joyful noises I've ever heard, but they are clever, concise pieces of baroque pop that bear up to listening again and again. So there is reason to be happy

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's really sad that no one has left you any comments, so I thought I'd leave you one. Chin up!