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Mann's performance coincides with the release of her recent album, Charmer. She has the presence of mind to write songs about narcissists, which is a little different from the 90 percent of rock songs that are about being a narcissist. “The first song I wrote for the album was called ‘Charmer,' so that's kind of what started it,” she says. “And there are obviously songs that aren't really on that topic, but it was a thing that I kept coming back to, because I do think people who are super-charming are really interesting. And I see how charm is on a continuum that goes all the way from people who can talk you out of anything to people who are manipulative to people who are almost a little sinister. They're usually people who you really like being around in the beginning, because they're really good at creating an impression that perhaps is tailor-made for you, and that's very seductive.”
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You might say it naturally follows that an album named Charmer would need to be musically seductive, as well. And this one certainly delivers its own charm offensive with a production style that sometimes harks back unabashedly to an earlier era, three decades or more ago, when electric guitars and synths walked the earth together in harmony. The full sound is in stark contrast to her much starker previous album, Smilers, which was not so big on the new wave. She might even have been inspired by some fellow former Bostonites.
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Super-fun is not a term that everyone would expect to escape the lips of Mann, who well knows that she has an image—and possibly preternatural gift—for songs some would consider sad and downbeat. But there is a subtler kind of levity in her music that, followed to its natural end, leads to the kinship she feels with certain comedians and explains why she frequently does shows with the likes of Patton Oswalt and Paul F. Tompkins. And perhaps it explains why you'll hear some of the biggest laughs this side of a Bridesmaids screening at a Mann show, sometimes arguably morose subject matter notwithstanding.
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Maryland Hall is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, and a grant from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County. Additional support comes from sponsors including: Inovalon, Inc., COMCAST, ARINC, Wells Fargo, Loews Annapolis Hotel, Bay Ridge Wine and Spirits, Towne Transport, Verizon, Sandy Spring Bank, M&T Bank, Severn Savings Bank, Corporate Office Properties Trust, The Law Offices of Alexander & Cleaver and BankAnnapolis.
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For more information or to order tickets, contact the Maryland Hall Box Office at 410-280-5640 or visit www.marylandhall.org. Box office hours are Monday - Friday from noon – 5 pm. Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts is located at 801 Chase Street, Annapolis.
