The Fat Angel Sings

With apologies to the Nobel Prize-winning scientists who developed super-resolved fluorescence microscopy, The Both is this year’s most successful chemistry experiment. The pairing of Aimee Mann and Ted Leo did not result in a violent reaction—if that’s your thing, Instead, the two musicians complement each other in subtle and restrained ways, with Mann’s placid, noble strum blanketing Leo’s rougher electric-guitar edges. The Both suggests that almost any song in the universe could be improved upon by Aimee Mann’s vocal harmonies; she glides effortlessly where Leo has to lift a little harder to carry his end of the tune. The two sometimes sound like an un-decaffeinated New Pornographers—they are blatantly enamored with Thin Lizzy, and one song on the album (“You Can’t Help Me Now”) is so sad that you worry about the severity of the situation for all parties involved. Finding a mid-career musical foil—one who not only masks flaws, but plays to strengths— is rare, and to make it all sound so natural on the first attempt is rarer still