AIMEE Mann is knocked out by her new passion for boxing.

So much so, this introspective Virginian chronicler of secrets of the dark soul has penned a pulp-novel album, each of its 12 songs a chapter in the Seventies' story of a Vietnam-bound boxer and his girl. Regular Mann watchers will be forewarned that her specialist subject is relationships gone brown. This time Mann's ill-fated young lovers leave behind Charlottesville first love and state-fair elopement for struggles with faith and addiction in her song cycle of decline and fall. As the title of The Forgotten Arm suggests, you don't see the winning punch coming at first, but Mann's honest jabs pile up the points.

Mary Lorson has been in a fight of her own, being treated successfully for breast cancer in 2003 (with none of Kylie's publicity) . "Life provided me with an abundance of material this time around," says Mary, whose pure, warm piano songs with partner Billy Cote also draw inspiration from the birth of her son, Roman. The album artwork's abundance of shiny red apples does not indicate temptation but Lorson's renewed affirmation of nature's cycle.

Updated: 09:22 Thursday, June 02, 2005