The clinical frankness of the title of indie veteran Aimee Mann’s latest album Mental Illness (2016) is actually meant as a jab at how her work has been repeatedly described as ‘depressing’ over the years: “I mean, calling it Mental Illness makes me laugh, because it is true. But it’s so blunt that it’s funny.”
Mann returns to the sombre melancholy that characterized her work before her last album Charmer (2012), taking on the internal states of those who have been bruised and disappointed by life. The album’s first track, “Goose Snow Cone”, an airy folk-pop song accompanied by chimes, strings, acoustic guitar pickings and bells, is light in sound and heavy in tone, depicting someone aiming for stoicism in the midst of psychological hardship:
'Lookin' into the face of the goose snow coneShould be shaking it loose but you do it aloneEvery look is a truce and it's written in stoneGotta keep it together when your friends come byAlways checking the weather but they wanna know whyEven birds of a feather find it hard to flyThought I saw at my feet an origami crowIt was only the street hidden under the snowAlways snatching defeat, it's the devil I know'
Lyrics: Genius
On “Patient Zero”, the album’s first track to merit a music video, Mann showcases her ability to condense psychological complexity into compact, radio-friendly lyricism once again. As with "Goose Snow Cone" the song's lyrics deal with an unexpected downward spiral in the (previously smooth-sailing) road of life:
'They served you champagne like a heroWhen you landed, someone carried your bagFrom here on out, you're patient zeroSmelling ether as they hand you the ragLife is goodYou look around and thinkI'm in the right neighborhoodBut, honey, you just moved inLife is grandAnd wouldn't you likeTo have it go as planned?Go as planned'
Lyrics: Genius
As Slant’s Josh Hurst noted, the album “makes sadness sound enveloping, even romantic, never alienating”; Mann keeps coming back to the downcast, disillusioned and downtrodden, but her third person character sketches are anything but melodramatic or maudlin. Instead, they radiate warmth, sympathy and empathy while maintaining just enough emotional distance from their subjects to make room for illuminating observations of the human condition.
