IT'S IRONIC that a wordsmith like Aimee Mann should find herself performing at the RDS Concert Hall, surrounded by shelves full of books as a self-confessed lover of literature, the Boston chanteuse must have felt right at home, and if any of the audience didn't understand her lyrical twists and turns, then they could have simply consulted the vast array of tomes which towered over each side of the venue.
The tall, blond figure of Aimee Mann took the stage in bright silver slacks, her lanky frame balanced by a bass guitar, and the band launched into Sugarcoated, Mann singing sweetly while Jon Brion tore into the convoluted guitar riffs. She might come on all syrupy sweet, but Aimee Mann's songs have razor blades in their core, and the sharp wit and observation was apparent right from the get-go.
Long Shot was even more pointed, not wasting time with understatement, while All Over Now proved that some situations needed to be dealt with directly, not obliquely. It's Not Safe, also from the current album, I'm With Stupid, went he home-truth approach, riffing its way straight to the "heart of the matter.
A fanfare of accordion and melodeon greeted Mann's latest composition, Save Me, a Beatles-meets-Carpenters exercise in carefully-paced emotion and craftily-built chord progressions. The slow momentum was kept up for You Could Make A Killing, I've Had It and That's Just What You Are, Mann giving us an idea of what Joni Mitchell might have sounded had she moved to Seattle and joined a grunge band. Then Mann strapped the bass back on and became Michael Stipe's soul sister for Amateur and Could've Been Anyone, before becoming her inimitable self again with Fifty Years After The Fair, Choice In The Matter and I Should Have Known.
The encore brought a chance to loosen up with the self-effacing You're With Stupid Now and the allegorical Jacob Marley's Chain, but the imagery really took flight with a solo rendition of 4th Of July, the lyrical fireworks flying while Mann strummed softly and firmly below the firmament.
Superball finished on a bouncy note, but this gig was one for the intent listener and not the restless pogo-er, and anyone who sat back and lent and ear was well rewarded.
