Aimee Mann Shares ‘Suicide is Murder’ From Upcoming New Album
Aimee Mann has released “Suicide Is Murder,” the lead single from her newly announced album Queens of the Summer Hotel. The LP arrives November 5th via Mann’s own SuperEgo Records.
Mann began writing the music for Queens of the Summer Hotel in 2018 when she was asked to compose songs for the stage adaptation of Susannah Kaysen’s memoir Girl, Interrupted. Orchestrated with her longtime collaborator Paul Bryan, the album is based around a song cycle with music Mann wrote for the show, backed by theatrical strings and woodwinds in a nod to their origins. As with the memoir it’s inspired by, Queens of the Summer Hotel explores themes of depression and self-harm, much like Mann’s previous album, 2017’s Mental Illness.
Of “Suicide Is Murder,” Mann says, “I started to write this song because I’ve known people who committed suicide and friends who’ve had loved ones die from suicide. I think the phrase ‘suicide is murder’ took on a meaning for me as it’s the worst thing to have to deal with in the aftermath. It’s just terrible. Because every person who knows the person who committed suicide will blame themselves in some way for not noticing or stepping in or doing something. They’ll till the end of their days, say, ‘was there something I could have done?’”
She continues, “I honestly felt almost possessed when I was writing this record as I’ve never written so fast and intensely. I found the material very interesting and obviously really personal. I had specific ideas about what I thought the character’s backstory could be and incorporated a lot of shared experiences to flesh out specific characters discussed in the memoir.”
Mann will join Rufus Wainwright on several West Coast tour dates this fall beginning September 9th, with shows at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, Humphrey’s in San Diego, and Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
Aimee Man, Queens of the Summer Hotel Tracklist
1. You Fall
2. Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath
3. Give Me Fifteen
4. At The Frick Museum
5. Home By Now
6. Checks
7. Little Chameleon
8. You Don’t Have The Room
9. Suicide Is Murder
10. You Could Have Been A Roosevelt
11. Burn It Out
12. In Mexico
13. Check (reprise)
14. You’re Lost
15. I See You
Aimee Mann and Rufus Wainwright Fall 2021 Tour Dates
September 9 – San Diego, CA @ Humphrey’s
September 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
September 11 – Saratoga, CA @ Mountain Winery