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Are your Levis Quivering?

I heard yet another melancholy song by a young female singer songwriter. I am going to leave out names only because it is my first foray into this type of music critiquing and I don't want to make enemies, yet. The song relied on the morbidity of depression "I am so sad / I am so blue" Oh for God's sake why are you so depressed all the time. I mean you could have got e to that hypnotherapist your ex lover gave you 1500 bucks for sessions and you only went once. Natalie Merchant of Ten Thousand Manicas crafted a song about depression "Like The Weather" If you really don't dive into the lyrics "Well by the force of will my lungs are filled and so I breathe. /Lately it seems this big bed is where I never leave. /Shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather. /Quiver in my voice as I cry," The song has a peppy, danceable vibe. Merchant was always a wonder at creating songs with a pop of snark to alleviate the dark. Aimee Mann is also a master at writing about heartache and breakups. In "Save Me" (the title alone) Mann croons in her signature slow rolling vocals. Check this opening line out "You look like a perfect fit 
For a girl in need of a tourniquet 
But can you - save me" 


You crave more of this song and it doesn't disappoint with overarching bridge that rises high then drops you back to reality. I relate to Aimee. Her last album from 2017 was simply entitled "Mental Illness" and instead of running away from her waxing poetic about being depressed and anxious in this age of general anxiety and overmedication, you want to lung right into the fits of mania she speaks about in "RollerCoaster". The woman has talent and truth and she builds on life experience. Pitchfork wrote "Mann fills her songs with ordinary people struggling against operatic levels of pain." The issue I feel with these young girls full of dread and angst and inability to forge forward in real relationships is I am not hearing the aria. 



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