 | Aimee Mann |
Aimee Mann- @#%&! Smilers – Superego Records – 2008
One of the several notable releases out today (along with Fleet Foxes and Shearwater) is a new album from long time indie rocker/songwriter Aimee Mann. She rose to fame in the band Til Tuesday in the 80′s with their smash hit “Voices Carry” but eventually struck out on her own after that had run its course. I am not overly familiar with her solo work, but this seems fairly similar to what I have heard, and this is a really solidly put together album with some really good songs. I wouldn’t really describe it as edgy or groundbreaking, but it doesn’t really need to be honestly, because she has been around for a while so she knows what she’s doing. She has put together a very listener friendly chilled out album that really is just a good listen, and sometimes that’s all you need.
Aimee Mann has always been noted for her songwriting in addition to her vocals/performance, and I think that shines through here. She kicks it off with “Freeway” which has a nice driving rhythm with a few interesting instruments thrown in there. There is actually a nice, fair variety of instrumentation going on here, more than I expected, although the driving force of the songs remains a traditional guitar, bass, piano kind of set up. The single off of the album “Thirty One Today” is a great pop song that just has a very nice rhythm and melody set up. The moments that really shine on the album are the parts where she has these kinds of driving rhythms that build throughout the song, but there are also moments that shine on the album where she has more chilled out grooves, such as on “Looking for Nothing”. The thing I should really point out is that this album is not really going to try and compete against a lot of the other stuff we have covered here. It isn’t an indie/alternative rock album trying to appease the hipster crowd, it is a singer/songwriter kind of classic rock/pop album, and in that sense it completely succeeds and is far better than most of the fare in that arena nowadays. Aimee has a great voice and the musicianship is quality throughout the album. It is more of an old school album in that sense that it doesn’t try to rely on gimmicks or noise to stand out, it just allows the songs to stand on their own and shine through, and I think it works very very well here. When you are an established artist like she is you don’t need to be crazy with it, and she keeps it close to the vest here, but still manages to make it sound nice and fresh. There are some very notable female singer/songwriters out there nowadays (ie. Feist, Amy Winehouse) and I think this album certainly comes off equally as well as those do, even though it is appealing to a different crowd.
I would certainly say if you are looking for a supremely enjoyable album that doesn’t get all in your face and is just a good listen, then certainly you could do much worse than checking out this quality release from Aimee Mann. I would also say if you are a fan of her earlier work, based off of what I’ve heard, then you can’t go wrong with this either. I have a feeling I will keep listening to this for a while also because it is just a nice chilled out groove from top to bottom.
