COURTESY PHOTO

Sugar-free songs

Aimee Mann admits to a never-ending fascination with people who are bitter, unhappy and dysfunctional. They are the characters who populate her eloquently written songs.

Aimee Mann With opening guest Laura MacLean When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 Where: Hawaii Theatre Tickets: $30 and $35 Call: 528-0506 Mann lists inspirations for 'Forgotten Arm' To mark the release of "The Forgotten Arm," Mann made a list of favorite albums for Amazon.com. Some of these inspired her work on the album, particularly early efforts by Rod Stewart ("Every Picture Tells a Story") and Elton John ("Tumbleweed Connection"). The rest of the list includes: » "Either/Or," Elliott Smith » "Oh, Inverted World," The Shins » "Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947," Michael Penn (her significant other's latest release) » "The Band -- Greatest Hits" ("We were watching their documentary 'The Last Waltz' when we were touring. That stuff was so great, the music of that era. It helped with putting together the story and characters for the album in my mind.") » "Madman Across the Water," Elton John » "Hopes and Fears," Keane » "Harvest," Neil Young » "Van Lear Rose," Loretta Lynn » "Straight Up," Badfinger » The anthemic "All the Young Dudes" from Mott the Hoople ("I seem to like these bands circa 1970, especially this song from this groovy band from England who were kinda boogie, kinda glam.")

Best known for her sympathetic and melodic contributions to the soundtrack of the 1999 film "Magnolia," Mann is one of those rare singer-songwriters who has attracted a solid core of fans worldwide, and done it on her own terms, business-wise.

After leaving the corporate record industry due to lack of publicity support, she became the sole artist on her own SuperEgo Records label. Mann's artistry has only benefited, resulting in one of her stronger projects, the concept album "The Forgotten Arm" released earlier this year.

Before the career boost of "Magnolia," most listeners knew her as the frontwoman of the 1980s new-wave band 'Til Tuesday and for the breakout hit "Voices Carry." It's been nearly two decades since Mann toured Japan with 'Til Tuesday, but she'll return there in a couple of days as a soloist, after her concert stopover at the Hawaii Theatre next Wednesday.

It's about time Honolulu got a chance to hear Mann and her superb backup band live. Her lyric and melodic sensibilities are consistently top notch. Her eloquent and concisely written songs are well-crafted, striking a fine balance between head and heart.

"The Forgotten Arm" is a concept album that tells one story through all its songs. As usual, the central players are a couple of down-and-out characters -- he's a Vietnam vet and boxer; she's a drug addict. They meet at a Virginia state fair sometime in the early 1970s, fall in love, and take a road trip across America. The album poignantly illustrates the inexorable pull of co-dependency.

SPEAKING by phone from Los Angeles, Mann says her concert setlist includes a mix of about eight songs from "Forgotten Arm" and older favorites. "Since this is the first time we're playing in Hawaii, we might mix up a couple of things, although we haven't figured it out yet."

The set will probably include her most recognizable songs, from "Magnolia," "Wise Up" and the Oscar-nominated "Save Me."

Considering the successful collaboration between Mann and director Paul Thomas Anderson, why hasn't she done more soundtrack work? "A situation where a director asks a musician to write for a movie, that almost never happens, partly because most directors aren't hooked into the music scene. Nowadays, a million people are involved in making the music decisions, and they're usually trying to do a cross-promotional with a record label that wants to feature their own acts. And in addition to these different considerations, sometimes music is written for scenes that end up being cut out. So it's a crap shoot."

She has half-jokingly called herself nitpicky and critical, offsetting that with a wry sense of humor. But songwriting is the true calling that she doesn't fool with.

Her songs often speak of difficulty and conflict, yet the music "adds the tone that things aren't so bad, and sometimes you have to laugh because things are so crazy," she said.

"It's an irony that, in my mind, is built into my songs. Sometimes the difficulties are meant to be matter-of-fact, but other times, with the problems that come with drug addiction, lives falls apart. And I acknowledge that reality in my music, not wanting to sugarcoat that stuff."

The boxer and the drug addict we meet in "The Forgotten Arm" eventually go their separate ways. "But I feel that, sometime in the future, when things get better for them, they'll realize there was real feeling between them, even though their time together was not the magical cure-all for their problems at the time."

Mann would like to work on another themed album like "The Forgotten Arm" (the title describes an unexpected knock-out punch). "I did enjoy the experience of telling a story to base my songs on. ... It's something I want to explore, maybe with another concept album."