Sunday, August 31, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews
AIMEE MANN
“@#%&*! SMILERS”
(SUPEREGO)
Jeff Gentner/Getty Images
AIMEE MANN
w/the Submarines
Friday, Sept. 5
Variety Playhouse
$27.50
404 524-7354
www.variety-playhouse.com
If every song on Mann’s seventh solo release was as moving and melodic as the opening “Freeway,” this would be an exceptional release from an artist whose significant strengths help to overlook weak and/or inconsistent releases in her past.
Alas, that’s not the case. But this set, which substitutes keyboards and strings for electric guitar, is still an impressive batch of songs that slot comfortably, perhaps too much so, into Mann’s existing style. It’s a pleasant, generally low-key affair that rewards close listening, especially with the lushly designed, retro-style lyric book in hand.
These songs float by, buffered by strings and synths, yet anchored by Mann’s crushed-velvet vocals, which are sounding more like those of Chrissy Hynde as the years progress. Unfortunately, these melodies are reminiscent of others Mann has written, and the keyboards, while an interesting stylistic detour, wear thin as the album unwinds.
The title is a retort to those who want Mann to smile more. True to form, there aren’t many happy moments for these characters, who seem doomed to miserable futures in Mann’s typically downbeat, occasionally morose songs. In “The Great Beyond,” one tells her friend to get off a dead-end street where “every win is the beginning of defeat.”
Arrangements are meticulously crafted, especially when horns punctuate the mood, and existing fans will be satisfied to join another one of Mann’s career-long pity parties. But a few more hooks like the one that drives “Freeway” would shift this disc out of neutral and into a higher gear. 2.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz