Interview: Aimee Mann

Win tickets to see Aimee Mann at Indigo2 here

She says: “I’m really happy with this record. I think my producer did a great job. So I’m very pleased with it – but, then again, I feel that way about all my records.�

To compound her joy, I’ve just told her that one of her musical heroes – Ray Davies – is prospering, presenting his musical Come Dancing in Stratford just a few miles from Indigo2 where she’s slated to play on October 24. “That makes me happy too,� she says.

And, to complete the perky set, she’s happy to be coming back to a place that holds such good memories.

She says: “I love London. I was there for about eight months in 1992 and it was early spring to late fall in one of those years when it appeared to be magically always 72 degrees. I don’t know how that happens – London really put on its best.�

It was in London, in fact, filming Later With Jools Holland when she had a Defining Career Epiphany.

“It was one of those moments that you dream about as a kid. You’re waiting for that feeling that – yeah, this is it. That was like that moment when I was on that show and I was standing next to Ray Davies and I thought – it doesn’t get better than this.�

But here’s the thing. Aimee Mann – happily married, on top of her game, Oscar and Grammy nominated for the Magnolia song Save Me – doesn’t let levity leech into her songs. Oh no. There it is – in the title of her new album –@#%&*! Smilers – the ironic twist, the gentle subversion, the sour to go with the melodic sweetness that is her hallmark – each song a story in its own right and usually carrying a theme of emptiness or loss or emotional blankness.

(“Called some guy I knew / Had a drink or two / And we fumbled as the day grew dark / I pretended that I felt a spark,� she sings in Thirty One Today.)

So where does that come from, that Prozac nullity? “That’s the kind of writing that I like. I love a song with some detail so that people feel anchored in a real experience. I can’t stand the sort of song lyrics that are vaguely emotional or that tell you how you feel – rather than tell the story so you know how they feel.�

And how does that come about? “It always starts with a piece of music and there’s always a story that is perfect accompaniment to that piece of music – it’s like, what’s the story that goes with this? It sounds super corny, I know, but there’s a story in every piece of music and you just have to get it out.�

She contrasts her current sound with her early days in the MTV-friendly band ’Til Tuesday which saw her with a shock of blonde hair and her Thompson Twin vibe.

“I was very interested in that 80s sound with synthesizers and the dance beat – I was all over that, I loved it but by the time the next record rolled around I was on to a totally different thing.

“I started writing songs with an acoustic guitar and I thought this is probably more me. The dance thing was more about show and performance and I couldn’t keep up that level of performance. My influences are more the songwriters and acoustic guitar players – that’s the stuff I love and I’ve gone back to that more and more.�

So what can audience expect at the Indio2 gig?

“This record has keyboard heavy and no electric guitar, the keyboards play the part of electric guitars using distorted wurlitzers and B3s [Hammond organs] and a lot of Moog so we have two keyboard players.� Laughing, she says, “I never realised what equipment nerds keyboard players were so we’ve got so much junk.�

She continues: “I’ll be playing a lot of songs from the new record and a lot of older stuff too. A few things from Magnolia – whatever I imagine people want to hear. I take requests which is totally ridiculous because I have the worst memory.

“I remember being in Brussels and someone yelled out ‘Lost In Space’ and I was like – I know I had a record called Lost in Space, did I have a song called Lost in Space?�

Aimee on Touring:
The enjoyment of touring depends on a lot of factors. I will say that it is kinda of exhausting. It’s inevitable that it’s exhausting because it’s not possible to get eight hours of sleep every night and you’re always on a different schedule. Sometimes you’re playing a show at 11o’clock at night, sometimes it’s 7.30pm. So your peak energy comes at different times and especially when you’re crossing time zones. It really depends on the people that your with.

On her new album:
My last record [The Forgotten Arm] was an out-and-concept album with a narrative that went all the way through and I didn’t really feel like I needed to do that again. I thought maybe I would put together a bunch of songs that had nothing to do with each other – but they did end up all having their own stories.

On record companies:
Whatever you had success with they want more of it. I was totally done with [the synth sound of ’Til Tuesday] – I made a record that had a bunch of acoustic guitars and that was a big shock for them. I was very naïve I was like – ‘hey, you’re supposed to get better as an artist!’

On Magnolia:
My husband [Michael Penn] did some scoring on Paul Thomas Anderson’s first two movies – we were all friends and he was a big music fan. He knew that I was doing a record and he asked for a tape. It was just a coincidence that the things he was writing about were the same as the things I was writing about and he was listening to the tape while he was writing his movie so it just became entwined. He really knew that he would do for my career but I was like – “Hey great! My songs in a movie – that’s fun!� So I was actually surprised that he put so many songs in the movie. He just wanted to do something nice for me. He wanted to see the underdog win.

On the Internet:
I think the internet’s a great thing – you can immediately hear what somebody’s doing and try it out. It used to drive me crazy that people could buy a single but weren’t allowed to hear the rest of the record till they bought the album and then they were disappointed because the record company put the one single on and a bunch of junk. You should rise and fall on the virtue of your music.

Aimee Mann plays Indigo2 on October 24. To win tickets to see her, enter our competition.