Aimee Mann expects her next record to rock -- "rock" being a relative term, of course.

"What seems like a rock record to me still seems down-tempo and depressing to other people," she says. "I can sing as hard as I can and it still comes out sounding like Karen Carpenter."

Mann has already written a half-dozen songs for the set -- the follow-up to last year's Lost in Space -- and she expects to start recording in September. Among them are "I Can't Get My Head Around It," "Dear John" and "I Can't Help You Anymore." "It's my usual stuff," she says. "There won't be any good-time hoedowns or anything.

"I've played the last year with the same band," Mann explains. "I'm really enjoying the live experience, so it made me want to record the next one as more of a band in the studio."

Mann had intended to work with Space producer Michael Lockwood again for the album, but with Lockwood tied up as the musical director of Lisa Marie Presley's touring band Mann will have to look elsewhere -- but not to her producer husband Michael Penn, in the news lately for his early work on the new Liz Phair album, most of which was jettisoned in favor of the pop stylings of hot production team the Matrix.

"Michael's always involved in his own stuff," Mann says. "We don't have the same style of working. I like the hangout method of recording, and Michael's like a real producer.

"We were joking recently about me writing with the Matrix," Mann continues. "That would be a left of center idea. Liz [Phair] was making a bid for substantial success for her record, and when you know her it all makes bizarre sense. But I've been there and I make more money selling my own records on my label [Superego], so that won't be happening."

Mann hits the road tomorrow for a series of North American dates that includes three stops at zoos. "You have to plan for the monkey house and hope for a nice theater," she says. "If you can stand the smell, it's really not that bad. A few years ago, I was playing a zoo and a giant anteater kept bellowing every time the kick drum was hit. Or maybe it was an elephant. Whatever, it was loud."

Aimee Mann tour dates:

7/24: Los Angeles, Verizon Music Festival
7/26: Las Vegas, Paris Hotel
7/27: Saratoga, CA, The Mountain Winery
7/28: Santa Rosa, CA, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
7/30: Seattle, Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheater
7/31: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
8/1: Portland, Oregon Zoo Amphitheater
8/8: Chicago, Navy Pier
8/9: Pittsburgh, Chevrolet Amphitheater at Station Square
8/10: Columbus, OH, Columbus Zoo Amphitheater
8 /11: Cleveland, Cain Park
8/14: Buffalo, Lafayette Square
8/15: Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield Playhouse
8/16: Hampton Beach, NH, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
8/17: Newport, RI, Newport Folk Festival
8/20: New York, Central Park SummerStage
8/21: Hyannis, MA, Cape Cod Melody Tent
8/22: Cohasset, MA, South Shore Music Circus
8/23: Harrisburg, PA, Whitaker Theater
8/24: Philadelphia, Keswick Theater

GIL KAUFMAN
(July 23, 2003)