Interview With Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann started out in a punk-rock band in the early 1980s, then rose to stardom as part of the pop group 'Til Tuesday. After that group broke up, she went solo and released a string of critically acclaimed, poorly selling albums on major labels before tackling the entire soundtrack to the film Magnolia in 1999. She earned Oscar and Grammy nominations for the song "Save Me," from that film. Always more of a songwriter's songwriter, her involvement in Magnolia introduced the general public to her mastery of the narrative approach to songwriting.

Soon after, she split with the major labels entirely and started her own SuperEgo Records. Since SuperEgo’s first release in 2000, Mann's music has taken a more acoustic indie approach, granting her more artistic freedom to marry her roots and Americana influences with her highly literary songwriting. Now, on her first album in three years, @#$%*! Smilers (due out June 3, 2008), her music is a little more rootsy, driven by acoustic guitar and keyboards. I caught up with Mann for a quick chat about the upcoming record, and how going indie has changed her approach to making music.

photo courtesy Girlie Action PR