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Aimee Mann's New Video Is A Star-Packed Drama In Miniature

Aimee Mann has been known to indulge her dark side, in everything from her classic work on the Magnolia soundtrack to a holiday record that really should have been titled A Very Dour Christmas. But she fully leans into the bleakness on her provocatively titled new album, Mental Illness. Mann's ninth full-length solo record — which features contributions from natural allies such as Jonathan Coulton, Ted Leo, Jay Bellerose and John RoderickMental Illness can be punishingly sad, but also breathtakingly pretty.

To those ends, Mann just released a video for a gorgeous single from Mental Illness called "Patient Zero" — though the artist herself only makes a split-second cameo, alongside comedian Tim Heidecker, actor Rich Sommer and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. The dramatic heavy lifting is left to the formidable pairing of actors James Urbaniak and Bradley Whitford, in a story loosely based on Ronald Harwood's 1980 play The Dresser.

"I believe 'Patient Zero' is a song about Hollywood disappointment," the video's director, Daniel Ralson, writes via email. "I wanted to make a video about the same thing, on a smaller scale. James Urbaniak plays the dresser for a fictitious (but very serious) play called The Hermit. Bradley Whitford plays the actor at the heart of the performance. The two men become friends; the dresser is given a gift; their friendship ends. It's about being able to let go of the things we want but can't have."

Aimee Mann's new album, Mental Illness, comes out March 31 via SuperEgo.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)