MOOD MUSIC AIMEE MANN'S HAUNTING, LOVELY SONGWRITING DOESN'T ALWAYS REFLECT A TORTURED SOUL.

Byline: Phillip Zonkel Staff Writer

CONTRARY TO popular belief, Aimee Mann doesn't follow the creed of a tortured artist.

The renowned musician, whose raw lyrics and smooth vocals paint emotional portraits of destructive and twisted love patterns, rejects the notion that a songwriter has to be on a downward spiral to find the Muse.

``It's really irritating when people talk about, 'Don't you have to be tortured to write certain songs?' It bugs me because it goes about it the wrong way,'' Mann says. ``You don't have to be tortured to write a song. That isn't how it works. But you can develop the ability to write a song as a way of compensating for an inability to communicate in certain ways.''

Mann's main source of miscommunication comes from her childhood, which she describes as having ``plenty of chaos,'' including an absentee mother and a father who divorced twice and married three times.

``As a child growing up, I wasn't able to connect and have healthy relationships and know how I felt and express myself,'' says the former 'Til Tuesday vocalist. ``That's where the music comes in. When I write music, it's to mimic the inflections of speech. The music says it all.''

Mann's latest CD and fourth solo release, ``Lost in Space,'' also speaks volumes. The 42-year-old Richmond, Va., native, who now resides in Los Angeles, weaves melancholy musings about addiction and longing.

``She's a really talented songwriter who writes songs about subject matter that you don't hear in a lot of popular music,'' says KCRW (89.9 FM) music director Nic Harcourt, who booked Mann for this year's ``A Sounds Eclectic Evening,'' Nov. 23 at Universal Amphitheatre.

Mann also hits the stage Tuesday at the Wiltern for a charity concert supporting the Step Up Women's Network.

Mann strikes a chord with listeners with her open-hearted honesty about her own bouts with depression and self-doubt, issues she worked out through therapy, which the artist claims saved her music.

``Since I've been in therapy, I've become a better songwriter. You get rid of the natural inclination that everyone has about hiding behind a certain facade, and I don't mean that in a bad way,'' she says. ``They have this kind of persona that they're afraid to step away from.

``If I had a feeling, I didn't know what it was, and I didn't want to know what it was. But you can't block yourself in one way and then selectively trot it out for a song. You put a block on and you're blocking everything,'' Mann says. ``Therapy connects me to my feelings so I know what I'm trying to say.''

Harcourt applauds her writing. ``A lot of the lyrical content on this album addresses addiction and obsessive-compulsive behavior. You have to have a level of maturity as a songwriter to address that. A lot of songwriters try to write about that subject matter but come off sounding cheesy or trite; she doesn't.''

Subjects like these perhaps led to the image of Mann as troubled. So, too, did the 1999 release of ``Magnolia,'' the depressing, critically acclaimed Paul Thomas Anderson film, for which Mann penned a handful of haunting, yet warmly embraced songs.

The single ``Save Me'' and soundtrack garnered Mann three Grammy nominations and an Oscar nod. The exposure jump-started the songwriter's career.

``Paul Thomas Anderson handed my music on a silver platter to a certain community of media in a way that made them take it more seriously than they would've ordinarily,'' Mann says. ``I got to be coupled with a cache of a great movie like 'Magnolia' and a talented, young, cool director. That does the trick. It changes the perception in people's minds.''

VANITY FAIR IN CONCERT

What: Benefit for Step Up Women's Network with Aimee Mann, John Doe, Neil Finn, Joe Henry and Lucinda Williams.

Where: Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Tickets: $53.50 to $68.50. Call [phone].

KCRW PRESENTS A SOUNDS ECLECTIC EVENING

Who: Aimee Mann, Norah Jones, Zero 7, Beth Orton, Kinky, Blackalicious, DJ Shadow & Thievery Corporation

Where: Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal Way, Universal City.

When: 8:15 p.m. Nov. 23.

Tickets: $30 to $250. Call [phone] or go to www.KCRW.com/see2.

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Aimee Mann admits counseling helped her write some of her best work to date. ``Therapy connects me to my feelings so I know what I'm trying to say.''

Carlos Serrao