Aimee Mann - @#%&! Smilers

Jun 17 2008 By Paul Cole

(SuperEgo)

AFTER the detours of 2005 concept album The Forgotten Arm and the 2006 Christmas set, singersongwriter Mann returns to what she does best - warmly sung songs of emotional maturity.

Not that she doesn't ring the changes: electric guitars have been replaced by old-school synth and Wurlitzer, and she uses now strings and a horn section.

But it's the songs that demand attention. Freeway could be a Cars out-take, Phoenix recalls classic Jimmy Webb and Ballantines is a duet with folkie Sean Hayes complete with bar-room piano.