Not long after
Aimee Mann released
Mental Illness in 2017, she agreed to provide the songs for a musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted, the 1993 memoir by Susanna Kaysen that was turned into an Oscar-winning film by
James Mangold in 1999. The theatrical production was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, so
Mann decided to turn her compositions into
Queens of the Summer Hotel, her tenth solo album. Working once again with producer
Paul Bryan -- the pair have collaborated ever since 2006's
One More Drifter in the Snow --
Mann turns these theatrical tunes into a richly textured record, one that is deep in feeling and controlled in execution.
Queens of the Summer Hotel does proceed with the deliberate momentum of a play, opening with the hushed hurry of "You Fall," winding its way through brief interludes and asides, reaching an emotional peak partway through with the stark, resonant "Suicide Is Murder," then settling on the bittersweet denouement of "I See You." Much of the album is given supple, sympathetic orchestrations that feel as intimate as the occasional number containing little more than a piano and voice, the two complementary arrangements giving the album the air of confessions being shared in confidence. Despite its contemplative nature,
Queens of the Summer Hotel looks outward -- these were songs designed for the stage, after all. The combination of the airiness of the arrangements and the warmth of
Mann's performance is wistfully hopeful, turning
Queens of the Summer Hotel into a record that soothes and consoles during moments of uncertainty. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine