The Charmer and the Punk – Aimee Mann discusses collaborating with Ted Leo as The Both
A typical Aimee Mann song features a prominent acoustic guitar, storyline and neat hook to tie everything together. Mann’s best songs are heartbreakers, including the Oscar and Grammy-nominated “Save Me” from the Magnolia soundtrack.
Ted Leo sits firmly on the other side of the spectrum. With his band The Pharmacists, Leo has released some blazing rock albums in the vein of The Clash or Elvis Costello’s early days.
Mann and Leo will perform at Manship Theatre at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Manship Theatre. Tickets start at $45 and are available here.
When you put the two talents together, even Mann acknowledges that it might be difficult to comprehend how the music might sound.
“We have our definite styles of songwriting,” Mann says. “I’ve deliberately tried to write songs with more rapid chord changes as an homage and to meet him halfway stylistically. It’s a different thing when you know this is going to take a crazy left turn. The music is going in this direction, and I don’t know where it’s headed.”
Over the past decade, Mann and Leo got to know each other more and bonded over their love of dumb jokes over Twitter.
“I feel like it was a long time ago when I heard about him,” she says. “I love his lyrics, his melodic approach. He’s a very thoughtful and interesting songwriter. He’s funny, and that’s another reason I work with him. He’s a comedy music hybrid. He’s one of those people. We bring each other into each other’s world.”
Eventually, they started touring together; then, Mann sent Leo a voice memo, an idea for a song, and the duo started a new project, The Both. The name came from joke they had over Twitter, responding to each other with #BOTH.
When Mann and Leo started writing together, they originally planned to release an EP. However, they had such a good time, they decided to write an entire album, which is scheduled for release in early 2014.
“We clicked so nicely as writers that we decided we wanted to make a full record,” she says. “It’s fun to try to get inside his style and write interpretations of what a Ted Leo chord progression or style might be. If you’re the person coming up with the initial chunk of music, you can call this other person, and they take it in a totally different, interesting direction. We’re going with the flow wherever that creatively goes.”
For more information on The Both, click here.
Listen to Aimee Mann’s “Charmer” and Ted Leo and The Pharmacist’s Hearts of Oak below.
