Aimee had been bassist and vocalist for the band Til Tuesday, who had a successful Mann-penned single "Voices Carry". The band broke up and Mann pursued her solo career.
This is Aimee's first solo album and it's brilliant for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Mann is an amazing songwriter. She's another of those rare songwriters whose lyrics actually made me stop and take notice, she has real way with words. The ballad "I know there's a word" is brilliant and affecting while still being tastefully opaque.
The other reason is that Mann enlisted the help of Til Tuesday touring member and multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, who would go on to produce my favourite Fiona Apple album as well as albums by such adventurous souls as the Eels, David Byrne, and Rufus Wainright.
The music has a bit of a country lilt to it, maybe a hint of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, and then (possibly courtesy of Brion) a subtle theatricality in places.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It's almost the opposite to a lot of albums, in that rather than being a bit front-loaded, it gets better the further into the tracklist you go so that you end on a high note, ready to revisit the songs.
