speed of dark

In general, the pop genre is too bland for my taste, but there are a few artists who are so good they transcend the average. Rufus Wainwright is one, and Aimee Mann is another.

Last week Aimee Mann released her seventh solo album, @#%! Smilers* since disbanding 'Til Tuesday in 1990. Although Mann has said that Smilers is not a concept album in the manner of 2005's The Forgotten Arm, a common thread definitely runs through the album's tracks. Mann's notes on users and abusers, bad decisions and lost opportunities are delivered through her usual memorable melodies and razor-sharp lyrics.

"Columbus Avenue":

The place where you failed to make your story go over
The place where you bailed and let the bottom drag you under

"It's Over":

"But you sit there in the darkness,
and you make plans but they're hopeless,
and you blame God when you're lonely,
and you'll call it fate, when you show up too late and it's over."

"Phoenix":

"I don't want to abandon you
but baby I've had my fill
you love me like a dollar bill
you roll me up and trade me in
and if you have the chance you will
and if you get the chance again

"Medicine Wheel"

Black marker on cardboard
Little drawing of a medicine wheel
Everything that’s good you steal

"Looking For Nothing":

I got high on the ferris wheel
Didn't like how it made me feel
So alone
Another cog in the loading zone

"Thirty-one Today":

I thought my life would be different somehow
I thought my life would be better by now
But it's not, and I don't know where to turn

"The Great Beyond":

Go, honey go
Cause it's a dead end street
And it's a street in a town
Where winning isn't sweet
And every win
Is the beginning of defeat

It's an album that has grown on me even more with repeated listenings. Produced by Paul Bryan, who also produced Mann's One More Drifter In the Snow (2006), there is no electric guitar on it, which I didn't even notice until I read it elsewhere. Most of the accompaniment is by keyboard, but she has a nice, sassy horn section, which is a new touch. Guest vocalists include longtime friend Grant Lee Phillips and novelist Dave Eggers, who provides the whistling on "Little Tornado." The most outstanding of the guest spots is her duet with Sean Hayes on "Ballantines."

My favorite track, for the tune and the snazzy arrangement but especially for the biting lyrics, is "Freeway." My interpretation is that Mann is digging at those individuals who insisted on buying SUVs and Hummers while ignoring that gas prices were rising...

You got a lot of money, but you can't afford the freeway
You got a lot of money, but you cannot keep your bills paid

...while also creating a metaphor for the entire state of the U.S.economy and a society based on appearance without substance with my favorite line in the whole album:

Another chocolate Easter bunny hollowed out by your own talk

(I like to hear "talk" as "tongue," which I think makes an even stronger statement.)

From @#%! Smilers:
Freeway
The Great Beyond

MySpace | Website | Label: Superego Records | Lyrics
Buy at Aimee Mann Store, iTunes, and Amazon.com

*I removed the ampersand from the title.
See also: Aimee Mann's 2nd Annual Christmas Show on Speed of Dark