Aimee Mann has announced her next album. Queens of the Summer Hotel will be released on November 5th via Mann’s own SuperEgo label. The LP was written in conjunction with music for a stage adaptation by Girl, Interrupted. Today Mann shared the lead single “Suicide Is Murder” along with a music video with James Urbaniak. The visual was staged and produced by Puloma Basu and Rob Hatch-Miller. (If you have thoughts of suicide or you know someone who it is, you can find resources at the bottom of the article.)
In a statement, Mann said she started writing her single because she knew people who died of suicide. “I think the phrase ‘suicide is murder’ has got a meaning for me because it’s the worst thing to deal with in retrospect. It’s just awful, ”she said. “Because every person who knows the person who committed suicide blames themselves in some way for not noticing or interfering or doing something. They will say to the end of their days: ‘Was there anything I could do?’ ”
Mann added, “I honestly felt almost obsessed when I wrote this record because I’ve never written so fast and intensely. I found the material very interesting and of course very personal. I had specific ideas about what I thought the character’s backstory might be, and I used a lot of shared experiences to flesh out certain characters that are discussed in the memoirs. “
Mann started writing music for Queens of the Summer Hotel back in 2018 when she wrote music for the stage version of Girl, Interrupted. The new LP consists of a song cycle constructed from it, sung by Mann and orchestrated with her long-time colleague Paul Bryan.
Read Pitchfork’s 2020 interview “Aimee Mann about the music she made”.
Queens of the summer hotel:
01 you are falling
02 Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath
03 give me fifteen
04 In the Frick Museum
05 Now at home
06 controls
07 Little chameleon
08 You don’t have a room
09 suicide is murder
10 You could have been a Roosevelt
11 Burn it out
12 In Mexico
13 Review (repeat)
14 You are lost
15 I see you
If you have thoughts of suicide or know someone who has had suicidal thoughts, we recommend these resources:
National lifeline for suicide prevention
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
1-800-273-TALK (8255)
