Ah yes, the joys of NPR, where you can stream your faves a fortnight before their latest album drops. And in this case? Aimee Mann (the new Grizzly Bear is also streaming and is really good), whose Charmer actually has a lot to live up to.
After a decade if not in the wilderness, at least at the other end of the telescope, Charmer is as straightforward a Mann album as you will ever hear. It is actually a throwback album, it could follow Whatever no questions asked.
From the title track, the immensely charming "Charmer" thru the guitar powered, is that a solo I see before me "Soon Enough" and the Shinsy duet "Living A Lie" this is exactly like Mann but a little bit better.
Her voice is lovely, her temper and disappointments volatile, lyrics very sharp and really, and again on first listen, nothing seems not to work. Nothing will ever be at the center of Mann's oeurve, but nothing will disappoint either. Song for song, it is her best since Lost In Space, and if two songs were as great as "Charmer" it might be her best since Bachelor # 2.
But it is missing that one knock out cut, the "Par for The Course" or "Ghost World", something so undeniable it lefts the album with it, so all Charmer proves is Aimee can do it whenever she feels like it. In 2012, not even Jenny Lewis can do Aimee Mann as well as Aimee can.
Grade: B+
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