"I've always been fascinated with eccentric personalities," says Los Angeles singer songwriter Aimee Mann. On Smilers, her seventh solo CD, Mann presents thirteen exquisitely-crafted new songs about the inner life of people living far from the bright lights of success or fame. Some of them are wanderers searching for meaning on the road, others look for it in a shot glass or by losing themselves in the blue trance of a tv set, and still others believe their deliverance will come through money. From the punch drunk characters haunting the twilight world of a dusty downtown boxing gym, to a onetime financial big shot who's returned home after taking a tumble, Mann paints spare, vivid portraits of people who seem to always wind up with the smallest slice of American pie. The songs are soulful, empathetic and somehow ultimately hopeful and optimistic. Says Mann; "When I write about them - the narcissists, performers, eccentrics, know-it-alls - it helps me recognize some truths about the world and about myself."

The title Smilers gets its name from a phrase Mann has long used to humorously lampoon the unrelentingly happy, shiny, smiley-faced pop culture that surrounds us all today. "I read an article that said that across all cultures, the single thing that people respond to most is a smiling cartoon face," says Mann. "A friend of mine and I used to laugh at how there's always somebody in an office or on the street who smiles all the time and is the first one to say, 'hey, smile!' I get that all the time from people who say 'why can't you be more smiley? So we jokingly nicknamed them @#%&! Smilers. You can provide your own curse word there. I think everybody knows someone like that." The record goes behind the smiles to get at something a little deeper and a little more revealing. Smilers reaffirms Mann's place as one of pop music's most distinctive songwriters, with an exceptional talent for beautiful melodies and insightful lyrics that go beyond platitudes.